Boogeymen
by Legend Maker
Summary: A Halloween tale, as the Titans prepare for a night of horror...and unleash a horror beyond anything they ever conceived of. Will the Titans survive the deadliest of nights, or end up the latest body count of the boogeymen...
1. Opening Credits

**_Boogeymen _**

Part 1: Opening Credits

_It's different on the other end._

Or so Robin thought as he slowly lifted his leg and took one more step, moving the distance like he was taking trench territory in World War I, his senses screaming and his brain charged with adrenaline.

Nothing happened.

Yet.

Something was due to happen eventually. And sooner rather then later. Very soon. Patience was not something that occurred in these situations.

Robin had certainly learned THAT.

Robin looks a bit off from what we can see in the dim light. He appears to be in one of the hallways on the floor on which several of the Titans live. The Titans all used to live on one floor, but the addition of Terra, as well as Savior, Gauntlet, and Scalpel (Writer's Note: First time reading me? Ok then. Terra never left and hence never went bad. Savior is my OC. Gauntlet is the author Bobcat's OC. Scalpel is the author Jedi-and's OC. That's all the info you're getting if you're new! So either go read some of our work or blunder on, I have a horror story to tell) had spread them out. Robin was currently outside his love's Starfire's room, though he couldn't really tell for sure if it WAS her room due to the spastic lighting.

Robin, as mentioned, is a bit off. His mask is missing, as is his cape. His utility belt looks torn and ragged. His hair is wild, his battle outfit is sporting a few holes, and there are slight bloodstains on a few parts that speak of previously received wounds. But his eyes are sharp and his movement is steady and clear, if immensely tense. In his right hand is clutched his metal bo, held out in the optimum angle of his self developed fighting style. He will be ready to bring it to use.

If he even gets to.

There is a chance he will not.

He wonders where his friends and allies are. Scattered far and wide again, despite what they willed? Are they hurt? Dead? Anything has become possible in this strange world Robin has found himself in this night.

_I should have listened to Noel._

Robin slowly turns, trying to look at every shadow. As mentioned, it was different.

When it happened as normal people knew, it seemed so obvious. Behavior seemed so stupid, and fates so deserved.

But when you were actually in it…

Robin wished he still had his mask. He could have fitted night vision lenses in and scattered the shadows in a piercing green glare. But it was gone. And perhaps with it his chance to survive.

For the shadows hid so much. You didn't need a certain place. All you needed was the dark. The dark to conceal, until it was his time…

_I hope Cyborg's all right…_

Robin slowly reaches out and presses a button, and the door to Starfire's room (it WAS her room) slid open. Robin's slow form suddenly comes alive as he dives forward, rolls, and comes up, looking around.

Nothing. The darkness has even managed to mute the normal brightness of Kory's room.

He wondered if something worse blighted it.

He stood up, looking around, trying to keep his mind clear, fighting against mystical interference as well as his human instincts, which may aid him in survival but will NOT help him in this situation. Wondering where it was. Where HE was.

Wondering if he had friends now.

Trying to keep all that he has learned from another master of the darkness, his mentor, Robin took another step.

Nothing.

Robin makes no sound while moving. His breathing, very careful and regulated through his nose, makes no noise at all.

He doesn't think he sounds silent though. His thudding heart sounds like war drums to him. Maybe HE can hear it as well. Maybe he'd examine it first hand…

Robin started to breath in as he took another slow step.

And froze.

When he had started to inhale, his nose had kicked it, and he had smelled it.

On top the smell was of rot, of flesh long given up life but not yet removed from the world. And beneath it…a powerful, wild, vicious scent, not easily identified, that spoke of a willpower so fierce and demonic that it managed to drive such flesh despite that it flew in the face of all the laws of life and death, of a rage so undying that it made the dead walk.

And under that…

Something that Robin's nose could not properly identify on the surface but, deep deep down in the primordial core of his being…it was a scent that could not really be called a smell but an ESSENCE, something that awoke the dark side and made it scream that something was coming.

If one had to identify the smell…it was the smell of evil.

And the fear and fury that it awakes in Robin fires up through his being and blasts into his arms, as he starts to turn, as he starts to bring the staff up…

As the blade comes slashing down.

* * *

(Several hours earlier)

"I'll give Mumbo credit, it was an oldie but a goodie." Cyborg said as the Titans walked into their lounge.

"I do not see what was good about it Victor." Starfire said. "Had it not been for Friend Nigel's accurate throw, we might have suffered dear…"

"It's an expression Kor. It means that what Mumbo did WAS bad, and we were lucky we got away with what we did." Terra said.

"Hey, it's MUMBO. How bad could it be?" Beast Boy said, as he tossed himself onto a couch and stretched contently. "Ah, it's good to be home!"

"Yeah, it's…HEY! Where's the remote?" Cyborg cursed. He began tearing up the couch cushions.

"It's here, in the freezer." Gauntlet said, opening the iced section and extracting a plastic bag from which he drew the black remote.

"What the heck was it doing in there?"

"I wanted to make sure it could be found." Gauntlet said, sitting down and turning on the TV. They flipped to a local channel as Robin and Scalpel finally came in, waving as if they were directing a car.

"WHAT? Why aren't we the top story?" Beast Boy yelled as the news came on.

"We're old news." Robin said, as Raven finally floated in. Carefully held in front of her was a serrated orb about the size of a basketball, colored black (though with Raven's black energy covering it you couldn't really tell…or could…or…), Savior by her side.

"They just need an excuse to rip into us and we didn't give them one." Savior commented, his innate intense dislike of the media shining through.

"Oh don't be sour Noel. We won and we're all ok." Terra said.

"Yes and no."

"Oh ok, BE grumpy." Terra said, and turned to her fellows sitting on the couch. "Ok, unless something comes up, it's our annual movie night! Who's going to get them this year?"

"We are." Savior said, indicating him and Raven. Terra opened her mouth in shock. "And we'll be taking Gar, Vic, and Rob with us. Relax. You'll get your junk."

"Hey! That's not junk! It's tradition! And might I remind you…"

"Yes yes. We'll go in a few, ok?" Savior said, as the four of them finished walking through the lounge. They walked carefully down the hallway to the elevator.

"We'll take it from here guys." Savior said. Robin nodded and left, though Scalpel, the team doctor, stayed with the two, just in case, as they rode the elevator down into the hallway that contained the evidence room, and then he went ahead to punch in the code for the door.

"Why's wrong sweetie?" Raven asked quietly.

"I don't like being powerless." Savior replied.

"Hey Noel, relax. You weren't the only one Mumbo made powerless with this thing. We were still able to beat him, which should prove the old adage that it's not the weapon who makes the man." Raven said, giving her lover a slight grin. Savior tried to return it, but it was clear he was still grouchy.

"All clear." Scalpel said as he walked back. The three carefully guided the mystical orb (which Mumbo had called the Eye of Archetypal, and which he had used to zap the Titans and render half of them without their gifts. It still hadn't been enough to beat them, and Raven had reversed the effects before the Titans had dumped Mumbo in jail. It was there that Savior's aggravation had greatly increased: it was Oct 30th and the police thought they were kids in costume at first. It was a good thing Noel hadn't decided to prove he wasn't by yanking down a wall. Once that was done, the Titans had carefully taken the orb back to their Tower to make sure its effects didn't activate by accident) through the door and into the room, which was strewn with both colorful artifacts, important objects, and more then a few dangerous weapons the Titans didn't want getting back into the hands of their enemies. Savior noted with annoyance that Control Freak's remote control was, instead of being tightly locked up, in its "display" mode.

"Scalpel, seal that pedestal, will you?"

"Ok…" Scalpel said, as Savior turned away, the Shimmer flowing from his hand and pressing a button on the wall. A new pedestal emerged from the floor, and Raven carefully placed the orb on it. Four prongs emerged from the base, balancing the crystal.

"Ok, all clear." Savior said, relaxing. "Nigel, close them both."

"I'm trying." Scalpel said, pressing at another control pad. "The keys don't seem to be…agreeing with me…"

Sparks suddenly shot from the panel, sending Scalpel back with a slight yelp. Savior made a small growling noise deep in his throat and headed over. He tried keying in the codes to make sure it wasn't something caused by Nigel's very sharp hands. All he got was a few more sparks. With a louder growl he shot out the Shimmer, yanking the panel off the wall so he could examine its guts.

"I swear, twenty million spent on security and all we get is lowest bidder junk!" Savior cursed as he nosed around the wires. "Ok, I think this should do it…"

The door to the Evidence Room closed and locked.

When Raven managed to pry it open a few minutes later, she had learned a few new things.

Like the fact that Noel knew a lot more swear words then she thought. When he had run out, he had actually started cursing first in Tamaran, Starfire's alien language (which had been comical), and then Blacktrinian, Scalpel's language (which, due to its harsh, nasty tone, wasn't so comical). Realizing that Noel was just going to keep getting more and more wound up, she had finally taken a shortcut and tapped into her unique empathy/emotion powers and literally SUCKED the growing rage out of her love. Normally Noel would have protested…but apparently he didn't want to be mad either. He just couldn't find a reason NOT to be mad.

"Ok, for tonight we'll do the Halloween thing, but tomorrow, before we go trick or treating or costume partying or anything we are GOING DOWN HERE AND FIXING THIS!" Savior said, as he used the Shimmer to close the doors and pressed buttons on the panel outside until he heard the lock click in. He guessed they could leave the two devices "exposed" for tonight: it wasn't like anyone was going to try and get into the room without the Titans knowing about it way in advance.

"All right, let's fire up the car and go get the movies. Nigel, go tell the others to start setting up the TV's." Savior said.

"Right-O." The alien replied, giving one of his wide toothy grins.

"I don't see why they need horror films, that's scary enough." Noel deadpanned.

The trip was delayed another two minutes as Scalpel proceeded to chase Savior down the hall a few times.

* * *

(About an hour later)

"The kings, have returned!" Gar Logan (Beast Boy) said, bounding in clutching a bag of videos and DVD's.

"Did you get everything?" Tara Markov (Terra) asked.

"Almost." Robert Candide (Gauntlet) said, coming in holding his own bags. "The good news is, because our junk is so much more popular, there was hardly anything for Noel!"

"Shaddup." Noel Collins (Savior) snapped as he walked in. He was holding six bags of snacks with the Shimmer.

"Relax Noel. At least your secret shame was in." Raven said, carrying two more bags, which she tossed to Victor Stone (Cyborg), who eagerly began to rip at them to extract the goodies. She gave him a wry grin.

"Shut. Up……." Noel griped. "I can't believe someone beat us to the Dario Argento films."

"Hey, that's good. Last year we had to suffer through them." Tim Drake (Robin) said.

"The only reason you SUFFERED was because those films were actually SCARY, unlike most of this self parodying nonsense that passes for horror. I mean, where are the scares in such horrid junk as _Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things?_ Give me _Suspiria_ or _Tenebrae_ any day. God knows that's infinitely better then _Attack of the Giant Leeches_ or that Tom Savani grossout _Maniac_."

"Gross out? Who got all those Japanese horror films two years ago and nearly scared Kory and Tara to death?" Raven pointed out.

"That was WELL-USED gore."

"It made me question the sanity of an entire culture." Kory Anders (Starfire) said dryly, which was RARE for her. Everyone looked at her, and her face promptly resumed its joyful normalcy. "Well, while Friend Noel may not be content, that is not an uncommon thing, and besides, we must get started! We only have so much night and there is that persistent need for sleep…"

"Could someone unhook those?" Nigel Hastings (Scalpel) said from where he was: on the ceiling, upside down like a bat. For some reason, he could understand movies better that way. He was indicating the tangled wires of the headphones that were clustered around the three TV's that were set up around the giant one. Considering there were about 20 pairs of them, it was a pretty big mess. Noel got to work as the other Titans staked out seats, set up chips and candy and soda, and argued good naturedly on who was going to get to watch what first.

"Gar, you OWN most of those zombie films, we should watch the rented stuff first…"

"Which self-mocking slasher revival film shall we watch first…"

"Should we put that on first or save it for last…"

"Ok it's nearly six, if we cut it off at two and with the general running time of 90 minutes and four TV's…"

"I wish they'd had the _Blair Witch Project."_ Noel said to Raven as she checked on how the untangling was going.

"Well, what can you do? You could have gotten the sequel." Raven said. Noel gave her a wry look. "Ok, cue the complaints on how utterly horrid _Blair Witch 2_ was…"

"It wasn't HORRID, per say. The first film worked so well, and was actually SCARY, because it took the whole concept of the horror film and turned it on its ear. _Blair Witch 2_ tried to do another take on the whole manipulating the genre, but in the end they just couldn't mesh all the tricks well and the whole thing came out a big mess. That's probably why all the copies of the first one were out while the sequel stayed there."

A light rumble of thunder came from the window.

"At least we beat the storm back here."

"Yeah, good thing that's going to hit tonight. I hear it's gonna be NASTY. But since it hits a day before, we don't need to worry about it ruining trick or treating. Instead, it just provides atmosphere." Noel said, as he finally finished untangling all the cords.

The first splatters of rain began to hit the window fifteen minutes later as the Titans finally decided on everything. Beast Boy placed all the films on the "main" VCR as every sat down in front of their chosen TV. Each group got a TV and enough headphones for the whole group if they wanted to watch, so there would be no arguments on who got to watch what. The group was setting up the snacks so everyone could reach what they wanted. It took a while, but it was better then all the previous years when lack of planning had led to a lot of arguments.

A bolt of lightning exploded in the distance as everyone finally sat down. Beast Boy stepped in front to do his little speech. He started and then a loud boom of thunder drowned him out.

"Gonna be nasty." Noel repeated, sitting at the far end of the couch. Raven was with him as well as Rob and Nigel, who had heard that Noel would be watching his guilty pleasure first and wanted to see it for themselves.

"All right people. We have done this before, and you know it well. From the sheer horror of the original Japanese _The Grudge_ to the sheer HORROR of _Attack of the Killer Refrigerator…_"

Another bright lightning flash, followed by another gigantic boom. The storm was sure moving quickly, Noel mused. It might pass them by soon…

"It is time to forget the scary things in real life and look at the scary things in the world beyond that screen. So my dear Titans, I, Garfield Logan…"

The brightest flash of lightning yet. And that was saying something considering the lights were still on: one of the Titans with a distance skill would turn them off when the movies started…

"The night beckons." Beast Boy said, as he picked up his headphones, all the other Titans either holding theirs or having it on their laps. "So, let us go out and walk…but beware. The Boogeymen are out."

And outside, the heart of the storm ignited once more above the T-Tower as a huge bolt of lightning blasted down and struck the lightning towers attached to the roof. They were supposed to direct the electricity harmlessly into the ground.

Except something went wrong.

Maybe a connection had frayed, or a compartment had broken. Or maybe something had been attached to something else that wasn't supposed to be attached. Or maybe some dark power just had a brain fart.

As down in the dimly lit Evidence Room the exposed panel that Noel hadn't fixed suddenly glowed, and then electricity crackled out of it, hunting for a target and finding it immediately.

Control Freak's remote.

The electricity coursed around the powerful device, and it began to glow red. The electricity built in intensity and then fired out, striking the Orb of Archetypal and enveloping it in crackling fury.

For a moment the energy seemed to feed back and forth between the two, building in intensity and fury…and then it fired back into the exposed security system, breaking through safeguards as it quickly blasted to its destiny.

As it fired through the electrical systems and into the TV and VCR/DVD settings, engulfing them in red energy even as more tendrils fired up to the headphones all the Titans were in the middle of putting on.

"What the…!" Tim managed to get out.

And then the energy hit them.

It was oddly…peaceful.

And then the lights went out.

Silence.

"…….Ok, NOW what?" Noel said.

To Be Continued


	2. Oh, The Humanity

Part 2: Oh, The Humanity

The lights were only out for a few seconds before they flickered back on…but something wasn't quite right. It was as if they weren't functioning at full capacity…which was very strange considering the general amount of high technology that the Titans possessed. The lights should not be flickering and dim like a porch light of a summer cottage that has not been used for two years.

"Tim! What just happened? Are you ok?" Kory said, springing up to the side of her boyfriend.

"I think so…but what the heck was that…"

"Ow…." Nigel groaned. It was a good thing that when the lights went out Noel and Raven had gotten off the couch as their battle instincts awoke. Because he had fallen from the ceiling and landed on it. "I think I'm…" Nigel said, as he tried to get up.

And found he couldn't.

Well, not really. He could move.

He just felt like he was moving through sand…with weights tied to his arms and legs.

"In a bit of a spot." Nigel said, trying to shift his weight and found even THAT was difficult.

"Nigel?" Noel said. "What's wrong?"

"I'll check…" Raven said, as she stepped back over to where the alien was lying, his hat on the floor next to him.

"What has interrupted our movie night? And why are the lights so strange?" Kory said, as she tensed her leg muscles…

And suddenly found herself falling forward. She squawked and waved her arms, but that didn't keep her from falling as she landed awkwardly, her face taking more impact then it should have.

"KORY!" Tim yelled, running over.

"That hurt more then it usually does…" Kory said, sitting up while clutching her nose. Blood, slightly brighter then normal human blood, with a very subtle purple tint, began to leak from the hand she had on her nose.

"Are you ok?" Tim asked.

"Guys…" Raven said from where she was kneeling by Nigel's side. "I can't read him. My powers…they're not working."

"What? What the…hey!" Rob yelled as he instinctively tried to shift the Gauntlet to battle mode, only to find that it was stuck in its ring form. "Hey! Work!"

"I fell because I attempted to fly. Only I did not. That is very strange…" Kory said, putting tissues on her nose that Robin had gotten her.

"The Shimmer's not working either. Something has definitely happened." Noel said, staring at his hands. "What's going on with you Vic?"

"I don't know. I feel ok…" Victor said, staring at his metal hands. They reacted to his commands, flexing and twisting. "Maybe I wasn't affected because I'm a…"

Then he tried to turn his arm into his sonic cannon and found it wasn't responding.

"Hold that thought." Cyborg said, as he tried again. Nothing. None of his other functions, from his scanners to his other weapons responded either. "Ok, I'm ok, but my gear is acting like its not here."

"My powers aren't working either." Tara said, withdrawing her hands from the stretched out position her arms had been in as she tried to call a few small rocks to her and got nothing in return.

"Same with my body. I'm still green, but that's about it." Gar said. "What's going on?"

"That orb. Someone must have gotten to it!" Noel yelled, whirling and heading for the door.

"Noel! Don't go running off! You could be walking into a trap!" Tim yelled.

"And we could be being set up for one right now! We might be playing right into their hands!"

"Who are they?" Raven asked, having helped Nigel to a semi-sitting position. The alien's body was like handling dead weight.

"Well I don't think that this just happened!" Noel replied. "This was a set up!"

"Set up? Noel, only WE know about this movie night." Rob said.

"It's not exactly a well hidden secret!"

"Yes, perhaps. But who could know enough to time…"

A gigantic flash of lightning lit up the room, followed immediately by a gigantic boom of thunder that made all the Titans jump.

"Ok, ok. Everyone gather around. We can't go running around like chickens with our heads cut off." Tim said.

The Titans gathered around…and there Beast Boy made a discovery.

"Ah no! The movies!" he yelled, heading over to where the main VCR/DVD player was placed on a table. The tapes and discs had apparently been exposed to intense heat and had melted, ruining the electronic device as well. "No! I had a copy of _Zolton, Hound of Dracula_ in that!"

"Actually that's back in with the other videotapes. We vetoed it, remember?" Tara said.

"What?" Gar replied, and then went over to the small chest where they kept their personal videos and DVD's and found Tara was right. "Whew!"

"Ok, if we can focus on more important things…is anyone who has some kind of power NOT affected?" Tim said. Every Titan tried to use their abilities again and once again nothing happened.

"Looks like we're all like you Fearless." Victor said.

"Yeah…did I mention that sucks?" Rob added.

"That might explain why Nigel cannot move. Blacktrinians are a very dense, in physical terms anyway, species, not to mention the various metals they have fused to their bodies. Their great physical strength was original developed to help them move, unlike mine, which is more of an evolution bonus, much like my flight ability. If Nigel has been cursed to have human level strength…he'll barely be able to move his own body." Kory said.

"I have to agree with Kory's diagnosis. I don't feel hurt or weary…I just can't move." Nigel said.

"Ok…so we're all suddenly human. And from what I saw, it clearly has something to do with the TV." Tim said.

"Yeah. I just noticed our headphones are gone. Whatever zapped us melted them, as well as our rentals…how are the actual televisions?" Noel asked. Victor went over to check.

"This is strange." Victor said after ten minutes of checking (as well as some hand wringing and moaning/groaning from Gar about the damage inflicted). "Our main TV's burned out. Same with two of the spares. But this one…it seemed to still be working…" Cyborg said, indicating the TV that he, Tim, and Kory had been going to watch. "Conveniently, or perhaps not, it's the TV hooked up to the VCR that now has some horror film icing on it. As far as I can tell, that VCR is fine too, the whole melted rentals notwithstanding, while the other ones have had their guts cooked like our televisions."

"Oh, why god why?" Gar lamented.

"Relax. They are more appliances where they came from." Raven said.

"But how could they ever replace Tom, Dick, Harry, and Jim?"

"You NAMED our VCR's?"

"Uh….yeah."

"Can we MOVE ON?" Tim snapped. "Please tell me there's some good news Vic."

"Yeah. Since we had to unhook it to hook up all these VCR's, the Gamestation is again unharmed!"

Tim facevaulted.

"I swear that damn device is going to outlive us all." He muttered into his hand as he got up. "Ok guys. Here's the sitch. Somehow, our powers have turned off. If it doesn't have SOMETHING to do with that orb we took off Mumbo, I'll eat my hat."

"You don't wear a hat. Only I do." Nigel said, not getting it.

"Yes, and you should not eat Nigel's hat Tim. I do not think it would taste very good." Kory added. Tim facevaulted again.

"Can we please not make jokes? This is serious! I'm used to being myself, but the rest of you all have some kind of ability that you're used to having that you don't have, and since we're not sure just how this happened…idiot!" Tim yelled, directing the last word at himself as he turned and ran over to the computer.

"While our Fearless Leader checks to see if the computer has any information, let me continue. Robin's right. We're powerless and facing an unknown threat, and on top of that we don't know what this condition will do to us. Nigel can barely move because he doesn't have the strength to lift his body…" Raven said.

"Actually…" Nigel said, slowly sitting up. "I can move. It's just…" Nigel slowly began to stand up. "Very…difficult…"

"Relax. Don't strain yourself." Noel said, giving Nigel a gentle push back down onto the couch.

"The point is, we don't know if this could have serious effects, sooner or later. Kory and Nigel are aliens. If they've suddenly been cursed with a human-like condition, it could prove harmful or fatal to them."

"I feel ok." Kory said, rubbing her arms.

"I do too. My body's still made of metal…but it feels like my old body now. Before the accident. Or maybe I'm just so used to this body now…but Raven, Kory and Nigel aren't the only ones. Gar could be affected too. Or Noel. Heck, even you. You're half demon. Who knows if that was needed to keep certain things…"

"DAMN IT!" Came a sudden roar, and within a few seconds all the Titans save Nigel were over by the computer.

"The whole system is scrambled! Whatever hit us, it was damn thorough!" Robin said, as he looked at the fuzzy shifting mass on the computer screen.

"Is the whole thing fried like the TV's?" Tara asked.

"Not sure…but if parts of the computer were fried I don't think it would work at all…maybe it just needs to be rebooted…"

"Ok, do that."

"It's not that easy. Since we don't know the exact damage, we'd need to do a general reboot, and that…"

Another giant lightning flash. The Titans waited for the thunder: it came a few seconds later.

"Could take hours."

"Do we need the computer?" Noel asked.

"It would help…" Tim said, and sighed. He spun around in his chair. "Ok guys, we need to think of a plan."

"This has to involve Mumbo's orb. We need to go down to the Evidence Room and see if we can do something in regards to it and to this." Victor said.

"And since we're powerless for the moment, we'll need guns from the armory. Just in case." Noel said.

"Agreed. And we need to check on the power as well, see what's causing these damn flickering lights. I don't want us suddenly plunging into darkness: it would be a great time for a sneak attack. Ok…" Tim said. "Victor, Kory, you're with me. We'll go to the armory. Noel, Raven, you go down to the Evidence Room and get the orb. Maybe Raven can reverse this like last time. Rob, Tara, you go check the fuses. ALL the fuses. Gar, you stay with Nigel. We can't just leave him alone: he's helpless this way and I'm not leaving a teammate open for attack…"

"Um, shouldn't YOU stay Tim? I have some normal combat training, but you're the expert…" Gar said.

"And if the door locks to the armory are scrambled we'll need the stuff in my utility belt to break in."

"Then just take Vic and leave Kory."

"We'll need her to carry stuff."

"But…"

"Gar, what's your worry?"

"Nothing really…I just don't like the idea of being alone."

"You're letting those movies get to you Gar. Don't worry, we'll be quick. Ok people let's go!" Tim said, and the Titans scattered, none of them wanting to be separated for long either.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that it occurred to Tim that maybe he should have checked their communicators for any problems.

* * *

The T-Tower stood dark, lights flickering on and off in various parts as rain poured down around it and waves lashed at its shore.

"I don't want to go out in that." Terra said to Gauntlet. The two had checked the two fuse boxes in the Tower and found nothing wrong with them. That just left the one OUTSIDE the Tower, so they made themselves down to the base of the T, and were now outside the door which would lead them to the fuse box.

"Why?"

"I hate getting wet with my clothes on. A personal thing."

"I have to admit, it is pouring pretty hard…" Gauntlet said. He looked at Terra, who pleaded with her eyes. "All right fine, but when I come back don't complain I left you alone."

"Fine. Deal." Terra said, and Gauntlet stepped out into the storm.

It actually wasn't that bad: the wind and rain were warm and it wasn't blowing hard enough to cause him any harm.

Of course, Terra didn't know that, as she watched Gauntlet make his way out to the remote box.

It was too bad she had all her attention focused on him.

It might have helped if she had seen the set of wet boot prints that tracked IN from the door…as if someone has stepped into the Tower from the storm. But that was impossible. Even IF someone could have gotten on the island, they couldn't have just OPENED a door. They had locks and alarms.

The word being…had.

It wasn't just boot prints. There was a lot of water on the ground as well, suggesting a very waterlogged traveler. Which Gauntlet would be…except he hadn't come back in yet.

At the moment he was looking the fuses over. He couldn't see anything really wrong with them…but then again, he was devoting about 10 percent of his effort to looking and the other 90 to keeping the box open, out of the rain, and an eye behind him in case someone tried to jump him. He missed his powers and hoped they'd be back soon: he wasn't used to be cautious. It was boring.

Terra watched, as the lights flickered around her.

Then her stomach growled loudly. Terra winced and brought her hand to the complaining section of her body, which immediately notched a new complaint. She supposed it had a right: she had been planning to pig out during the movies and now due to this strange event wasn't doing so. She flipped open her communicator and tried to raise Gauntlet, but all she got was a crackling noise.

"Gauntlet? Rob? Can you here me? Gauntlet! Come in!" Terra yelled. All she got was crackling static. "Shit!"

Her stomach growled again, loud enough that if someone was in the next room they could hear it.

"Screw it." She said, and left. She'd head back to the kitchen and grab a candy bar or something. Gauntlet would be all right…

* * *

"Man Vic, is this due to the TV thing or are you just trying?" Robin said to Cyborg. The three had been unable to raise the elevator, though that was far more annoying then alarming to Robin. He figured that if there was some enemy plan behind this, they would have attacked by now (of course, that begged the question that if this wasn't an enemy plot, then what had happened that had stolen the Titans' powers and royally screwed up their building's systems, as well as wrecking their horror movie marathon, but Robin figured he'd burn that bridge when he came to it). Since they were still unhindered, and none of the other Titans had called in with an alarm, Robin had downgraded the general status from code red.

You would think that such a strange situation would render such a thing impossible, but the human beings can be a resilient species. And a stupid one that can be easily distracted by other things.

Like Cyborg, who had found that while his metal body felt normal to him, it still acted like a metal body in some respects. Like in terms of weight. Normally, Cyborg's systems would have handled this…except they were down, shut off by whatever had caused this event.

The end result was that due to no elevator, the three of them had taken the stairs, and Cyborg was lagging behind.

"I'm TRYING Fearless. I'd like to see you be all full of pep and energy if you had weights tied to your arms and legs."

"Hey, if you really felt that way you could have stayed on the couch with Nigel."

"Hey wait just a minute…"

"Friends! We cannot aid this situation by starting to fight! It is a bad time!" Starfire pleaded from her position behind Cyborg. She daintily placed her hands on Cyborg's shoulder and leapt over the hulking man/machine. "Cyborg, perhaps we should go ahead. Do not worry, we will need your…"

And then the lights in the stairway, already dim, suddenly went out.

A moment later, Starfire screamed.

* * *

"I hope the others are doing better." Savior griped, punching at the keypad that was outside the evidence room. He had gambled that since the system had been so screwed up beforehand, maybe whatever had just mucked up the Tower and its occupants might have FIXED the defiant security setup. Of course, that was proving to be a pipe dream. The dim, flickering light wasn't helping either, as Savior leaned in, straining to see the buttons.

Raven stood behind him, watching for the moment. The evidence room was at the end of a T-Junction of the hallway: One T-Prong led to the elevators and stairs that the two had come down a few hours ago, the other eventually led to some of the more generic storage rooms, and the final line went off behind Savior and Raven. The hallways behind the two was the only part that had windows looking onto the outside, and it eventually led to the garage and some more storage rooms and elevators/stairs.

Off to his left, the lights suddenly gave one final flicker and then shut off. Savior glanced over to them, only to see them sputter back to life within two seconds.

"Do you know who makes those? I don't know who to curse." Savior said, returning to the panel. He had given up on getting the actual code to work and was now poking around in the system to see if he could do an amateur hacking job. So far he was coming up with nothing, and he was begin to become frustrated, even more so when he realized that even IF he could manage to get the system to work, the doors might not open anyway because Savior had closed them manually with the Shimmer.

"Fuck." He snapped as his seventh attempt failed. "Ok Rae, you better go get a crowbar."

"You want to PRY the doors open? That will be nearly impossible without our powers Noel."

"I don't want to pry the DOORS open. I want to pry the cover off this thing so we can see if a little surgery will do the trick, and if we lose THAT patient, I want to pry a little hole in the doors so Robin can insert some explosive."

"You'll be ok?"

"Fine, fine. Relax…"

The lights over Savior and Raven suddenly went out. Savior cursed and stood up, holding up his hands instinctively before he remembered that the Shimmer wasn't coming. He lowered them and was just looking at Raven when the lights flickered back on again.

"What's DOING that?" he asked.

"I really don't know. It's eerie though. Well, I'm not the one who has to stay behind. See you later Noel. Maybe." Raven said, a slight smile on her face, and then she turned and headed for the stairs.

"Ha ha." Noel muttered, turning his attention back to the panel. Outside, the thunder boomed, but it was beginning to weaken: the storm was passing by. But there was still some left to go…

Savior lost himself in the fiddling. When the lights in the hallway behind him suddenly sputtered out, he only paid it a backwards glance and then got back to work. He didn't even notice that the lights didn't flick back on after a few seconds.

He worked.

And behind him, lightning flashed, illuminating the corridor…and the figure in black at the end. Even IF Savior had been looking, all he would have been able to see would have been a dark form…with a strange patch of white near the top.

But he wasn't, and the darkness quickly swallowed the figure. Thunder boomed several seconds later. Savior continued to press buttons.

Another lightning flash.

Now the figure was two/thirds of the way up the hallway.

"Shit. Fuck me." Savior cursed, totally oblivious.

One more lightning flash.

Now the figure, finally revealed as someone dressed totally in a black outfit, was right behind Savior. If it had any intentions, it could not be judged through its face, which was covered by an elongated white mask.

And then with a sudden crack, all the lights in the hallway shut off, plunging everything into total darkness.

"Oh great. NOW what?" Savior cursed.


	3. Slippage

Part 3: Slippage

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"AHHHH!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The following scream went female in fear, male in surprised shock, female in additional fear/surprise, abrupt male surprise, and once again female fear when the lights flashed back on, revealing Cyborg sitting his rear on the stairs and aiming his fist at Starfire, having forgotten his sonic cannon wasn't working, while the female alien had paused in the middle of yanking Robin's arm up, perhaps for a throw or something more brutal.

"STARFIRE! IT'S ME!" Robin yelled.

"ROBIN! Someone…oh." Starfire said.

"What's going on?" Cyborg snapped, his lone organic eye still diluted with sudden panic at the yelling and screaming.

"When the lights went out, someone grabbed me…and I became very scared." Starfire said.

"It was ME, Star. I was grabbing you to make sure you didn't try to keep going down the stairs and fall in the dark. Without your alien abilities, you could break your neck." Robin said.

"And that was what I feared was YOUR intention." Starfire replied.

"What? Starfire, we're the only ones here. Who ELSE could have grabbed you?"

"I do not know…but this situation is much like one of our films…"

"Star, those are MOVIES. This is REAL LIFE." Robin stated.

"Yes…but there are monsters in real life Robin. We have fought many. Surely you do not think the boundaries between our world and their false one is thick. Especially on a night like this."

"Star, relax. I know this is a very bad situation. Losing our powers doesn't smack of an accident. But we can't go and start panicking about monsters in the shadows! It won't do us any good!"

"But Tim…this is not natural. I fear something terrible is about to happen. I'm scared." Starfire said, and her big green eyes conveyed that fear better then any scream ever could. Robin sighed.

"Ok, here, hold my hand." Robin said. It was a good thing Starfire's alien strength had been blocked: otherwise she may have reduced Robin's bones to powder. Robin snapped out his battle staff and started down the stairs again.

"Hey, what about ME?" Cyborg complained.

"Cy, you're mostly made of metal. Anyone tries to stab or bite you, all they'll get is broken."

"Oh, I'm so comforted." Cyborg said, continuing his slow trek after the couple.

* * *

The lights flashed back on.

Savior knelt, his arm up as his eyes darted back and forth. He could have SWORN he heard someone behind him, breathing softly but heavily. But no sooner had he panicked and whirled around, ready to block and hoping it was something he COULD block when the lights had turned back on…and revealed he was alone.

That didn't stop his eyes from flickering back and forth some more.

"Hello?" he asked the empty hallways. "Anyone there?"

If there was, they didn't feel like answering. Savior exhaled and stood up, looking around.

He was still alone.

"……….Dammit Collins, get a grip. You're supposed to be the logical one." Savior muttered to himself as he turned around.

Then he whirled, thrusting out his fist.

He hit nothing but air, and the abrupt movement caused him to lose his balance. He staggered forward and nearly pulled a repeat of Starfire's faceplant before he caught himself.

"Argh! Stupid horror movies with their stupid plots and stupid acting and stupid characters who meet such stupid fates when all you have to do is go out the front door stupid…" Savior said, turning back and pressing the keys.

And then he turned around again abruptly, once more.

And once again, he was alone.

"Geez. You'd think I WANTED someone to be there." Savior said and finally got back to work.

He tried to ignore that the hairs on the back of his neck hadn't settled down yet.

* * *

"I do not think that will be very effective as a weapon." Scalpel said from his position on the couch.

"Hey, no one likes to get hit on the head. So if anyone or anything comes, they will have to take the risk of suffering such a cranial injury, or else…stay away!" Beast Boy babbled, holding onto the chair leg he had wrested off one of the kitchen chairs. At least the lights in the main lounge and kitchen were fairly bright…Beast Boy couldn't say the same thing about the doors leading to other parts of the Tower: the lights there had konked out completely.

"I suppose you could be behaving worse." Scalpel said.

"Why?"

"Well…this whole situation…and what brought it about…it does seem like we have stepped into one of these so called scary movies, doesn't it?" Scalpel replied.

"What? You mean like a Mad Mod thing?"

"Maybe…but he's an old man. He'd probably have Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee chasing after us, and these weren't the atmospheres those actors hunted in. This is more…modern."

"Yeah…but for all his annoyances, Mad Mod's a smart coot. He could very well have adapted the modern horror film for us…geez, what if that's happened?" Beast Boy said, looking around wildly as he clutched his club in both hands.

"BB, if that's what happened, I think Mad Mod would let us know it was him. He has an ego the size of a small moon."

"Right…so what is this?"

"Maybe we HAVE entered the realm of horror films."

"Oh great. So what do we do?"

"Well, as the _Scream_ series says, what are the rules of horror films?"

"Uh, well the main one is that those who supposedly sin in any way die. Such sins include sex, drug use, drinking, smoking, being a jerk…" Beast Boy said, ticking them off on his fingers. "The problem is with these rules is that _Scream _popularized them so much that horror films will sooner BREAK them just to surprise people. Remember how one of the rules used to be the black guy always died first?"

"Right. Cyborg better watch his back." Scalpel joked. "But what else?"

"Well, there's more then a few. Locations, weapons, all that. I know that if you run away, expect to trip and fall down at least twice."

"More if you are female." Scalpel deadpanned. Beast Boy grinned.

"Oh right, if you let the monster out of your sight, he or she will gain the power to appear ANYWHERE!"

"And doors will never open."

"And if you must run in a way that is faster then you, always take the bus."

"The bus?" Scalpel said, arching an eyebrow.

"Yes, the bus. If you take a car, the monster will be in it. Cabbies are always demonically possessed. The monster will destroy any boat or plane you attempt to use. And you have to go through dark, underground tunnels to get to a subway."

"All good points. Also, you must never try to kill the monster the same way it was done before."

"Why not?"

"I don't know, but it must cause something REALLY REALLY bad to happen because NO ONE ever tries it." Scalpel deadpanned again, and the two laughed.

"Yeah, horror films sure are strange things. Anyway, you thirsty? I am." Beast Boy said, standing up.

"I'm fine."

"All right, see you in a minute." Beast Boy said, as he walked over to the fridge…and saw a trace of movement coming from one of the hallways. "AH!"

"What? What?" Scalpel said, straining to see.

"Don't know…" Beast Boy said, creeping forward while brandishing his chair leg. "Could have sworn I saw something…"

Beast Boy kept taking slow steps, his chair leg held out, ready to take a home run swing at anything that emerged.

Nothing did, as Beast Boy crept to the edge of the hallway and peered into the darkness.

Nothing but a hallway that curved off in the distance.

"Hello? Anyone there?" Beast Boy called.

"Oh REAL original Gar." Scalpel said from the couch.

"Come to think of it, yeah." Beast Boy said, lowering the leg. He waved it back and forth in the shadows in the hallway and felt nothing.

"Man, what's wrong with me…" Beast Boy said, turning around. "This is a bad situation but there isn't…"

The hook swung down and buried itself in Beast Boy's right shoulder. It was so sudden that Beast Boy was aware of the liquid sensation of his own blood spilling before the pain kicked in, a giant jolt that fired all the way through his torso and emerged from his mouth in a scream.

"BEAST BOY!" Scalpel yelled, and tried to struggle up, his position on the couch not letting him see the dark figure that had stepped up behind Beast Boy and struck until it was too late.

But despite the pain, Beast Boy's training instinctively kicked in as he reached up and grabbed at the hook, a long shiny one the size of the average fist, even as blood began to pour down his shoulder, grabbing at the slick metal (slick with his BLOOD) and yanking, sending a new wave of pain as the hook began to pull him back as he shoved it out, ripping at the flesh even as he turned and walked into a fist that sent him sprawling backwards, dropping his chair leg.

"Well now, isn't this strange." Said a voice behind him, as he tried to get up and turn around, even as more pain roiled through his body. Beast Boy had been hurt before, but it was almost always as animals. Being harmed as a human was a rare experience, and not one he appreciated…but despite this, something awoke in his mind.

The voice sounded…vaguely…familiar…

And the hook…

"Can't be…" Beast Boy said, as he turned around.

The man standing before him was covered totally in a water-soaked black rain slicker, the hat on his head shadowing his unpleasant, cruel face. His right hand was not a hand: instead it was straight from Peter Pan: a rounded metal end on which was attached a blood-dripping hook.

And Beast Boy knew, and even as part of his brain screamed at the impossibility of it all, he spoke.

"Ben Willis?"

Ben Willis twisted his face in some confusion but mostly anger, perhaps perturbed that this strange green teenager knew his name.

"Well…I guess I'm better known then I thought…though I'd still like to know where the hell am I…" Willis said.

"You can't be here. You're a movie character. What are you doing here? This isn't _I Know What You Did Last Summer_!" Beast Boy said, finally getting up, his hand clutching at his wound.

"What? What do you know of that? What the hell is wrong with your skin?" Willis growled. "Fucking teenagers. You think you own the world. Throwing me away like trash! But things have changed now…" Willis said, and slashed the hook out. Beast Boy barely dodged away from the deadly weapon.

Scalpel had finally pulled himself up to see, and his mind was as boggled at Beast Boy's.

They had been joking about horror films, and then one of the men from said films had just stepped into their life: Benjamin Willis, aka the Fisherman, the killer from both _Last Summer_ movies. And he apparently hadn't lost his touch…

Thrown by the loss of his powers and his injury, Beast Boy resorted to backing up to the nearby kitchen table and throwing a few bowls of chips and popcorn at Willis. The Fisherman only seemed to be annoyed by the projectiles as he stalked forward, bringing the hook up and down. Beast Boy dodged aside at the last second and the deadly instrument was buried in the wood of the table. Beast Boy staggered away, as he fumbled for his communicator.

"Titans! We have trouble! Titans!" Beast Boy yelled, fumbling for the com link…

And receiving static for the answer. Beast Boy stared dumbly at the communicator, willing someone to respond.

The only one who did was Willis, as he yanked his hook out with a roar and staggered around the table. Beast Boy tried to get away and found himself, like many others, getting tangled in his own feet as he fell. He, unlike others, rolled away, trying to get up…

The hook slashed out, catching Beast Boy just above his left nipple and cutting deep into his chest as Willis gouged a long diagonal wound. Beast Boy recoiled back, the hook popping out near the bottom of the right side of his rib cage. Blood flowed from the wound, soaking his front instantly, and Beast Boy staggered back, trying to get away, trying to block out the pain.

"Stop fussin. Just come here and I'll give you your peace." The Fisherman said as he stalked the wounded teen, looking for a chance to bury the hook into his gut or his head.

"No…never…" Beast Boy whispered, barely hearing Scalpel yelling at him, barely seeing the chair he tripped over as he staggered and then fell, falling over the couch and over Scalpel, who stared in horror.

"Nigel…run…tell them…" Beast Boy babbled, apparently forgetting in his injuries that Scalpel was weighed down and couldn't move.

That didn't stop him from trying, as he leaned down, and lacking anything better to do, shoved Beast Boy under the couch, aware of the dark figure stepping over him, as he turned his head and glared.

To say Ben Willis was surprised was an understatement.

"Good god! What is this, a chamber of freaks?" The Fisherman snapped.

"We have done NOTHING to you. Why do you try and murder us? We are innocent!" Scalpel snapped, for no reason that he had no other idea what to do.

"Innocence? That don't mean nothing, whatever you are. I was innocent. It didn't stop them from tossing me into the sea. You're all no good, deep down, and since she seems to be beyond my grasp for now…I'll settle for sharpening my hook on you." The Fisherman said, as he brought his arm up. "Goodbye, monster."

The hook slashed down.

And Scalpel summoned a superhuman/alien effort to snap his left arm up and intersect the hook between his two clawed fingers. The Fisherman's eyes went wide.

"WHAT?"

"Be carefully when hunting for monsters Fisherman." Scalpel said.

And then he yanked Ben Willis down as he brought his other arm up and jammed his other two claws deep into the side of his neck. Blood exploded from the wound, and the Fisherman reeled back with a gurgling gasp as blood rained down. He staggered back as blood continued to pour down his rain slicker, and then tried to push himself back up and get to Scalpel…and then he gurgled once more and collapsed, smashing through the table in front of Scalpel that was covered in snack foods, breaking it and smashing into the floor, where he shuddered and then lay still.

"They might have sharper claws then you." Scalpel said.

Groans under his couch reminded Scalpel of his other problem, and with a great effort he rolled off the couch and began to try to pull Beast Boy back out.

Which allowed him to witness Ben Willis, aka the Fisherman, as he suddenly began to disappear, as he faded out like a bad picture, distorting and then disappearing, leaving nothing behind, not even bloodstains.

"What the hell is going on…" Scalpel said to himself as he pulled Beast Boy back out. The green teen groaned again.

"Relax." Scalpel said, as he began to look over his comrade. Though it looked bad, the chest wound was most superficial: the rib cage had protected Beast Boy's heart and lungs. The kid was lucky: a lower slice would have gutted him (like a fish, Scalpel thought crazily, and furiously resisted the urge to giggle). But the shoulder wound was deep, and the chest wound, though not dangerous by itself, was still bleeding at a good clip. Make that a BAD clip: if Beast Boy didn't get help, he could very well bleed to death.

"Guys, are you there? Guys? GUYS!" Scalpel said as he pulled out his own communicator. "Attention Titans! We have a bad situation here! Robin! Cyborg! Savior! Anyone, come in!"

All he got was static.

"Won't work…" Beast Boy babbled. "Can't…"

"Don't talk." Scalpel said, and yelled into the communicator for another twenty seconds before giving up.

"_Fripotry!_" Scalpel cursed.

"Scalpel…"

"I said don't talk. Ok…I'm going to take you to the medical lab."

"Wh…a? How? You ca-an bare…ly…move…"

"I haven't TRIED yet." Scalpel said, as he slipped his arms under Beast Boy, thinking of all the times he had taken his alien strength for granted. Well, he didn't have it here, but he didn't care. Beast Boy would NOT be dying on his watch.

Under a strain that would have reduced most athletes to tears, Scalpel somehow got to his feet.

"Ok Gar, hang on. I'll get you to the infirmary…" Scalpel said, and took a step that felt like a ten-mile journey. But Scalpel ignored the pain, willed himself to not feel it, as he started to walk, heading for the medical room, grateful it was DOWN one flight and not up…

"Nigel…" Beast Boy said.

"Don't talk. Save your strength."

"That was…"

"The Fisherman. From those horror films. I know."

"Nigel…that was…one of the films in…the pile…"

"What are you…" Scalpel said, and then he remembered.

The red energy zapping out of the TV's, flowing through the VCR's and then through all of them…in the process destroying the films Beast Boy had stacked on the VCR…

"Something…life…somehow…here…in the Tower…"

A chill ran down Scalpel's spine. Could it be possible?

Beast Boy had said that boogeymen were out this night.

Could something have…made it so?

"Others…tell them…"

"You need help first Gar."

"No…have to…don't know…what's out there…Willis…small fry…much worse…"

"Oh I know." Scalpel said, as he struggled mightily out of the lounge, thinking of all the films the group had rented, what or WHO could have been in that pile…what was lurking in the Tower? How many? How powerful?

And with something sealing their powers…

How could any of them survive?

"God…help them…" Beast Boy whispered.

Somehow, though, Scalpel thought, he doubted God would be involved in any way.


	4. Victims

Part 4: Victims

"Guys?" Terra asked the empty lounge.

She was rather surprised. She had expected to find Beast Boy and Scalpel in the room, or at least Scalpel due to his condition.

But no. Apparently they had decided to clear out. Which was VERY strange…couldn't Scalpel barely move?

Maybe they had figured out how to get their powers back! She'd have to raise them on the communicators…

Except her stomach again reminded her that it needed something put in it. She groaned and ran for the kitchen.

It was a pity that the hallway Terra had re-entered the lounge in was as such an angle that she couldn't see the drying blood on the ground. Unfortunately, the angle she COULD see had come from when Beast Boy was bleeding from the shoulder, and most of that blood was in scatters of drops that blended in with the ground at a distance. The bloodier trek to the couch was blocked from Terra's current view.

Also, she wasn't in the most observant state, as she headed for the table, reaching for the bowl full of chocolate bars and scarfing down three before she grabbed a 2 Liter bottle of Pepsi and taking a long drink from that.

A loud thump startled her, and she nearly choked on her drink. Sputtering, feeling the carbon dioxide bubbles burn her throat, she dropped the Pepsi bottle, and it hit the floor, the liquid spilling out. She cursed and reached down to pick it up, pulling it upright…

And THEN she saw the blood.

"What the hell…"

Terra quickly followed the path of blood to the couch, gasping at the large amount at the base of it. She reached down and ran her fingers through it. It certainly felt real.

"Guys? What's going on…" Terra said, as she stood up and turned around.

And found herself face to face with the white masked figure who had crept up on Savior.

This time, however, he was holding a knife.

* * *

"This seemed SO easier in the old days…" Cyborg groaned as he strained his shoulder against the double doors.

"The old days were an hour ago Cy." Robin pointed out from his position.

The three had finally made it to the armory, which had quickly decided it wasn't going to let them in: the door command panel was fried even worse then the panel Savior was currently slaving over. But Batman hadn't trained Robin for nothing: The Teen Wonder had quickly formed a back up plan. One might wonder if he had been deliberate in ensuring that in said plan he did as little physical work as possible. The plan consisted of him using small amounts of explosive to blow out the sliding part of the doors and then pry open handholds, and then Cyborg and Starfire had to do the rest and pull the door open manually. It was working, but it was hard, and Robin had said he couldn't participate so he could watch for "stress points" that he could blast to make the job easier. Cyborg had no idea what he was talking about, but he went along for the moment. Though he really didn't much cotton to it.

"Almost there guys." Robin said.

"Robin, we have pried the doors open enough to fit through, must we really engage in further sweating and shoving…" Starfire said.

"We have to be able to shove a crate through Star."

"Can't we just toss all the guns through and then disassemble a crate, toss that through, and then…" Cyborg suggested.

"Sorry Cy. But time's against us. Really, should just take another minute at most." Robin said. Cyborg groaned, and Starfire was muttering to herself in her language.

It actually took another forty-two seconds, and then Robin stepped into the armory, turning on a flashlight as he hunted for the light switch in the totally dark room.

"Man, it's black in here. Shouldn't there be some residual light from the hallway?" Cyborg said.

"I will…_Brukay Qerty!_ My abilities are sealed!" Starfire cursed.

"Relax guys. I found the switch. Let there be light." Robin said, as he found the handle that activated the lights and flicked it on.

The room illuminated…revealing several dozen crates of various sizes. Some were already open, but that didn't alarm Robin much: the Titans had firearm training occasionally. You never knew when you needed to use a gun.

"Ok guys. Cyborg, you empty out that crate. Starfire, you and I go through some of the others, pick out a selection of stuff." Robin said, tossing Starfire a crowbar. The three went to work, as Cyborg began emptying a crate that was full of assault rifles, picking out half a dozen of them and throwing the rest aside. Robin and Starfire occasionally went over and added guns of various sizes to Cyborg's chosen, and he began carefully putting them back into the crate. After working for twenty minutes the Titans had a nice selection, and Starfire and Robin filled two packs with ammo and an extra pack with miscellaneous stuff. The three found a wheeled carrier for the crate and the three were struggling to lift it up onto said carrier when they heard it.

It sounded like a very low moan, but it was enough to make Starfire jump with a shriek, nearly causing the crate to topple over. Robin and Cyborg cursed as they struggled to finish placing it on the carrier, even as Starfire reached into the crate, grabbed a handgun, and began pawing through one of the bags for a clip of ammo.

"Star, what is it?"

"There is something out there! I heard it!"

"Star, that was just one of the crates settling. This room's temperature must have changed slightly by opening the door…"

"Robin, could you stop listening to the rational part of yourself and listen to the part down HERE?" Starfire said, indicating her stomach. "There's something out there!"

"Star…ok Fearless, let's go scout." Cyborg said.

"Take a weapon!"

"I think we'll be ok." Robin said, as he withdrew his staff and headed for the door. He darted around the corner of it…and found nothing.

"Nothing here."

"Same here." Cyborg said from his position on the opposite of Robin. "Hello? Any of you guys out there? If you're playing a prank, stop it, you're scaring Kory."

"And it's inappropriate!" Robin added.

There was no answer.

"I know I heard something." Starfire said, but she was removing the clip. She pocketed it and stuck the gun into the back of her skirt, hoping she had recalled the type of gun right and that it wasn't one of the brand that automatically chambered a round when the clip was inserted. If it was, there was still one bullet in the gun and she didn't want it misfiring: Robin often made flattering comments about her rear and she didn't want a bullet in it for ANY reason.

"Star, you're being paranoid. There's NOTHING out there." Cyborg said.

"I still have a bad feeling." Starfire said.

"It's ok Star. Even if you're right, we'll protect you. We're Titans: nothing can stand before us, even WITHOUT our powers." Robin said.

"Says the only guy on the team without said powers. I wonder…" Cyborg said as he went around and began to push the carrier, heading back to the elevator. This time, he didn't care how long they had to wait: if the elevator still worked, they WOULD be going up it…

* * *

Terra stared at the figure for a few seconds before she reacted, as her feelings went from surprise to fear to confusion to amusement back to confusion and finally settled as a mix of the last two.

"Well, hello!" she said. "I didn't expect to see YOU here. Ghostface, isn't it?"

The figure known as Ghostface, who had joined the ranks of slashers with Wes Craven's _Scream_ trilogy, nodded. Terra smirked.

Now…you must understand…what do you think seemed more likely to her: that some of her friends were playing a prank, or that a serial killer had come to life from a movie and was now threatening her?

"Nice trick. Is this all fake, or some animal blood? Pig, maybe?" Terra said. "So, who's in there? Can't be Nigel, he can't move. That you Gar? Aren't you a little short to be a psycho killer?" Terra joked. "You know Gar, this really isn't the best time for some silly game. We're powerless, and besides, don't you know that…"

The knife slashed out.

Which Terra hadn't been expecting. She had expected to be chased a bit first. So she was left totally off guard when Ghostface struck, his hunting knife catching her in the left arm and slicing open a deep wound.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Terra recoiled, more shocked then hurt. The two quickly switched. "AHH! YOU FUCKER!" Terra screamed, reacting on instinct as she raised her right hand…

And then remembered she couldn't throw rocks. Her powers were deactivated.

Ghostface slashed out his knife and sliced through Terra's glove, laying her palm open to the bone. If he'd aimed a little higher he might have taken off some fingers.

Terra screamed and recoiled some more as blood began to pour from her wounded appendage.

Ghostface brought up his other hand, revealing it was clutching something. It looked vaguely like a tape recorder…until he spoke into it.

"I think you have me confused with someone else, bitch." Ghostface said, the distorter changing his voice into an eerie electronic noise, and then with a quick jerk he had put the distorter away and was lunging at Terra, knife raised.

Terra dodged aside and Ghostface flung himself onto the couch, his overenthusiasm working against him. Terra took advantage and tried to run, her mind roiling at this sudden event. What had happened? They were supposed to be watching horror films, not starring in them!

And, deep down, a part of her chimed in with a thought.

_Hey, remember what happened to Drew Barrymore in the first Scream?_

Ghostface was already back up and lunging at her, and Terra dodged away, trying to think of a plan of action. But her reptile brain, which commanded all the primitive actions, was overwhelming her logical side, and it kept telling her the same thing: run.

Ghostface lunged again, the knife whistling by Terra's back as she dodged, as Ghostface blundered into a wall. But there was nothing amusing about it, as Terra turned and ran back for the couch. Ghostface gave chase, at least until she reached one of the televisions, which she grabbed and threw at him in a burst of adrenaline. The appliance struck him in the shoulder and sent him stumbling back with a muffled curse, as Terra ran for the nearest door.

And found it locked tight.

She turned and the knife stabbed at her head, nearly slicing her ear off as she jerked it aside. Ghostface was ready this time though, and he punched her in the gut, doubling her over. But Terra had enough wherewithal to keep moving, trying to stay away from that knife, as she lunged out under Ghostface's arm and ran for the kitchen.

Another line of burning pain shot through her as Ghostface yanked out his knife from the door and grazed her back, slicing open another line that began to bleed. But her legs still worked, as she ran for the kitchen, Ghostface at her heels. Maybe she could grab her own knife or a frying pan or something…

And she slipped on the Pepsi she had spilled.

She went down with a scared yelp, immediately tried to get up, and only succeeded in twisting her ankle and falling down again. She heard Ghostface behind her and turned.

He was standing above her, his head cocked slightly. Despite the never changing mask, Terra could tell he was amused, as he brought his now bloody knife up and wrapped his other gloved hand around it lightly, wiping the blood off. No sooner had he done that then he'd pulled out his distorter again.

"End of your scene, girlie." He said, and then he lunged at her.

Terra threw herself backwards and rolled, and Ghostface went tumbling down where she had been, his knife slicing off a few errant strands of hair. This time, Terra attacked, kicking the masked killer in the side of the head and sending him rolling with an angry grunt. She got up as he sprang back to his feet and lunged at her once more.

Terra grabbed the door of the fridge she was next to and threw it open, slamming the heavily loaded door into Ghostface's body. His head instinctively went down at the blow…right into the freezer door as Terra threw that one open and slammed it into his face. He flew back and hit the ground, and Terra turned and ran for it.

Ghostface got up and tried to go the other way out of the kitchen in order to cut her off, slashing at her, but Terra dodged again and Ghostface fell over the couch due to his constant overdoing. Terra stopped and finally remembered that while the other doors may be closed and locked, the door she had entered the lounge in wasn't, and she did a quick U-Turn and ran for said door.

Ghostface's arm snaked around the side of the couch and slashed the knife out, slicing a deep wound into the back of her thigh. Terra screamed and went down, as she felt the gloved hand grip her ankle. She tried to pull away, but even her desperation couldn't overcome the madman's grip that Ghostface had on her leg as he pulled himself up. She twisted around, putting herself on her back, noticing out of the corner of her eye the TV she had thrown at Ghostface was nearby.

And Ghostface yanked himself up, planted his knees on her shoulder, and stabbed the knife down.

Terra got up her hands and caught Ghostface's wrists as he tried to finish his fatal stab. The point of the knife stopped two inches from Terra's eye.

Her arms quaked with strain as she fought to keep the knife away, but she was at the disadvantage in physical strength and leverage, and one of her hands was wet with her own blood, and the knife, millimeter by millimeter, slid down towards her…

"No…no…" Terra said, as the knife seemed to fill her vision.

Ghostface didn't reply: he just kept pressing down…

And then he screamed as Terra twisted her leg and brought her knee up, slamming it right into his testicles. The knife slipped to the side and sliced open Terra's cheek as she twisted her head, but she ignored the pain as she reached out and seized a large chunk of glass in her left hand, and even as that cut into her fingers she brought it up and rammed it into Ghostface's chest. He bellowed, and Terra pulled herself forward enough to get her feet up under Ghostface and shoved him backwards. As blood ran down her neck from her sliced face she stood up, and turning she began to stagger away, limping due to her injured leg.

"YOU BITCH!"

That strange electronic tone somehow managed to startle her again as she turned around, and her eyes widened. Ghostface was getting back up, and the bastard had actually pulled out his voice distorter to talk to her, as he grabbed the shard of glass with his hand and yanked it out.

Panic flooded Terra again. That had been her best shot without her powers and with her injuries and he had shrugged it off. She had to run, get help, get away…

So she turned and started to run, as best she could, as Ghostface tried to get up himself, but it was clear her stab had hurt him as he fell forward on his hands and knees, which let her get some distance, but it didn't last long as he got up and started after her again.

But it had been enough time for Terra to reach her door, and she headed through it. She went past the elevator and headed for the stairs. If she could just get down a flight…

Ghostface appeared in the doorway, his shadow flashing briefly over Terra, but she didn't falter, she was at the balcony that overlooked the lower floor the stairs led do, she just had to…

And Ghostface hurled his knife.

The blade spiraled through the air…and impaled itself into Terra's upper back.

She suddenly stopped like a switch had been turned off. She gave a brief whimper…and then she fell, trying to feebly grab onto the balcony on the way down and failing as she hit the floor.

Ghostface approached her as she twitched, blood starting to pool around her. He reached into his left sleeve and withdrew another knife, wanting to make sure that if he had missed her spine or her lung, that he'd finish her off.

Terra was ineffectually trying to reach behind her and get the knife as Ghostface's form fell over her, and she looked up.

"Time to die now." He said into his distorter, and dropped it as he swung the knife up.

And Terra twisted her arm the extra half-inch it needed and yanked the knife out of her back and thrust it forward, stabbing Ghostface right in the middle of his chest.

"……Huh…?" Ghostface said. Without the distortion, the voice sounded male…but who could be sure? In the course of the _Scream_ films, there had been a total of five people behind the Ghostface mask, and only one had been female…but who knows which one of them had tried to slice Terra to ribbons?

All Terra knew was that despite her agony, she'd scored a hell of a hit, as Ghostface staggered back, his knees beginning to wobble, as he gripped the knife she had plunged into his chest and tried to remove it, even as he fell to his knees, started to collapse…

And then reared back up, screaming, taking his hands away from the knife completely as he charged Terra, swinging his own blade at her face as he bellowed his rage and his desire to kill…

And Terra ducked under him. Ghostface yelled in surprise and then screamed as he stumbled over Terra's body, hitting the balcony, and then Terra yanked her shoulder up, using the leverage to fling Ghostface over the balcony entirely.

His scream was short and cut off with a dull crunch.

And then there was no noise at all.

Slowly, Terra pulled herself up. Her whole body felt liquidy, but she couldn't stop now. There were killers in the Tower…

The red all over her body was sliding over her vision…

Terra collapsed at the head of the stairs, dead to the world and maybe just the first word in that expression.

And if not now, soon.

* * *

"Something is wrong Tim. I can feel it." Starfire said. Robin sighed.

"Starfire…well, is there anything I can do to convince you that you're just being paranoid?"

"Have all our teammates radio in, see if they're all right." Starfire said.

"All right." Robin said, as he reached for his communicator.

"Give you something to do at least." Cyborg said from where he was standing in front of the elevator doors.

"Vic, I don't think…"

"The elevator is coming! I can hear it!"

"Then why is it taking so long?"

"I don't know, some glitch! It seems to keep going up and down without stopping on our floor! But it will stop here eventually! I'm not lugging all that up the stairs!" Cyborg said, pointing to the crate of weapons.

"I must admit that does not sound like fun Robin." Starfire said.

"Hey, I know, but we're working on a time table here…may as well raise Raven and Savior first, see if they've figured out what's going on here." Robin said, and turned on the communicator. "Robin here gu…"

The hissing static gave Robin pause, and it also made Starfire's eyes start to dilate again.

"Ah come on…" Robin said, fiddling with the device. "Anyone, come in! Anyone! Come on! These devices were designed to be impossible to interfere with!"

"Robin…there IS something wrong. This proves it." Starfire said.

"Anyone? Come in! Anyone! Fuck and damn!" Robin cursed. He tried switching frequencies. More static.

"Robin, we have to do something." Starfire said.

"I'm beginning to think the girl's right Robin." Cyborg said, as he turned around to face the two.

"Is anyone there? ANYONE?" Robin, acting like the two weren't there. Cyborg sighed.

"Cyborg…we must get ready. Our friends…they may not have known…we must…it may already be too late…" Starfire said, bringing her hands to the lower part of her face. In the back of his mind, Cyborg heard the elevator coming down again and hoped it would stop on this floor this time.

"Look Star, don't panic." Cyborg said. "Yeah, this powers thing is weird. So is this static. But if this was part of something larger, I doubt Slade or the Lord would have the patience to wait this long, let us stew in our own juices, and wonder what's in the shadows until we snap. I think this is just something that is weird but is mostly coincidence. Now just calm down. Nothing has happened to our friends, and nothing…"

And the elevator stopped behind Cyborg.

The doors slid open.

And the arms of the zombies reached out and grabbed the robot, yanking him back into a rotten mass of flesh and terrible hunger.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Cyborg screamed as he suddenly found himself yanked backwards and surrounded by pulling, grasping, yanking, tearing hands and the sensation of teeth biting at him.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Starfire screamed as the doors opened and revealed a horde of humans, except they weren't humans: their clothes were all torn, dirty, and decomposed, their flesh rotten, falling off, showing muscles and veins and organs and bones, a horrific stench coming from it all and an even greater feeling of desire, a horrific desire.

"HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Cyborg screamed, as Robin finally turned…

The hand clawed for his eyes.


	5. The Dead Hate The Living

Part 5: The Dead Hate The Living

Though the flesh was practically falling off the digits, the hand that clawed at Robin's face possessed a fierce power behind it, the points of the bones poking out of the rotten skin and muscle and starting to dig in, trying to rip out his eyes.

Robin recoiled backwards, but not without losing his mask (which was normally impossible to remove, due to the special bond agent Batman had developed, but Robin needed to apply a fresh coat every 24 hours and he'd been putting it off till tomorrow) and a few scraps of skin, even as Cyborg and Starfire kept screaming and Robin tried to process what was going on.

They were being attacked by…zombies. Zombies. And while this was not a first for Robin, what made it so crazy was that the zombies had come out of nowhere. I mean, they were virtually mindless flesh eating creatures. Even if one of their foes had pulled out the zombie card to fight them, there was no way they could have silently snuck into the T-Tower…even after losing the powers and the systems being down and their communicators not working…

For Tim Drake, who wanted to be a great detective, and hence tended to be more inclined to logic and reasoning, imagination didn't come easy, but in the back of his head the same horrific, impossible possibility that Scalpel and Beast Boy had realized began to bloom.

_No…impossible…_

But, impossible or not, Robin couldn't think of why, he had to think of NOW, as the zombie that had torn off his mask was lunging for him again, and it had friends.

Robin lashed out with a vicious roundhouse, hoping to knock the zombie into the wall…and forgetting certain things about such creatures. They might be strong, but they're not very durable.

Which made Robin kick the zombie's head right off in a spray of rotten flesh, putrid brain matter, and congealed blood. That was all fine and good…except Robin had been trained so that those kinds of kicks had a certain result, and that was not the removal of a person's head. As a result, Robin lost his balance and fell.

He didn't lose his wits though, as his hand immediately went for his belt. Another zombie had its head cracked in half with a Birdarang, and another was thrown backwards as the sharp projectile was smashed through its chest. But more were behind him, and then fell on Robin, as he yelled and tried to get at another weapon, but two zombies were pinning him down. He tried to shove them off, but his hand, instead of shoving his attacker away, broke right through the decomposed rib cage and sent a shower of stinking, vile liquid onto him and he choked and gagged and then the creature was clawing at his face again as one of them sank its teeth into Robin's armored chest…

And then its upper body exploded as a boom echoed behind Robin, spraying him with decomposed tissue. His stomach roiled, but he kept it under control enough to shove his second attacker up, as a _chi-clak!_ of a shotgun being cocked sounded behind him. Half a second later the zombie's head exploded like its brother's and its body fell, dead again and permanently.

Robin looked behind him as Starfire cocked the shotgun, a spent shell flying from it. The fear in her eyes was gone, replaced by cold determination.

"Beast Boy's many zombie films have taught me well." She said.

"HELPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!" came a scream, and Robin's eyes widened as he remembered Cyborg. He was still in the elevator, in the mass, even as more stragglers broke off and lurched at the other two Titans.

_Well, at least whatever zombie movie these things came from was one where the zombies can't run like Ben Johnson, thank you very much Dawn of the Dead remake…_Robin thought as he flipped up. Now that he could actually accept, kind of, the fact that he was fighting zombies that may or may not have come from a horror movie, he could formulate a plan. And the first step was freeing Cyborg before he was torn to pieces. With his mostly metal body, he was better off then if say Robin had been yanked into the mass, but Robin wasn't going to test just HOW long Cyborg could stay in that small part of hell before he could be hurt/killed/infected (oh geez, did THEY have to worry about becoming zombies too?).

"CYBORG! GET DOWN!" Robin yelled, as he reached for an explosive in his belt. Starfire stepped up next to him, placed her shotgun she had taken from the box and loaded after she had gotten over her initial fear that yes, there were bad things in the Tower and they were after her and the ones she loved, against her shoulder and blew the head off another zombie, black blood spouting from its stump like a fountain and spraying the walls as it fell.. There were more to replace it though, but Starfire was clearly channeling the spirit of Arnold Schwarzenegger as she cocked the shotgun again and blew a large hole in the next one's rotting chest. True, she didn't do the one-hand twirling reload, but let's be fair here.

Robin located his explosive disc and tried to see if Cyborg had followed his instructions. Verbal cues wouldn't work as Cyborg kept screaming, but Robin had seen a figure rear back, briefly throwing back the crowd of undead, and then throw himself forward. Robin hoped that that forward throw also included downward momentum, and he hurled the disc.

The explosion detonated right in the midst of the moaning corpses and splattered a dozen of them all over the elevator, their fellows, and out into the hallway, smoking body parts bouncing off the crate, the walls, and the Titans, even as rotten organs splattered like balloons on whatever they hit.. A second later Cyborg pulled himself up, his metal back smoking slightly, and charged out, screaming and scratching at himself.

"Cyborg!" Robin said as the man-machine ran around the other side of the crate, as Robin ran past Starfire to join him.

"Bastards! Motherfucking cannibal bastards!" Cyborg screamed. There was a cut on his forehead and jaw and his metal parts were scratched and pitted. Robin could actually make out teeth marks in the metal where the zombies had attempted to devour warm flesh and found nothing but cold steel.

And they were going to regret it as Cyborg's shock finally began to transform into fury, and he turned.

"I don't know how these undead fucks got in but I'll gladly give them a ticket back into whatever hell spawned them!" Cyborg yelled, as he reached for one of the packs.

Starfire blew the head off her last target and saw four new ones shuffling towards her. The main mass had been knocked down by Robin's explosive, but they were getting up, and since all their food was now in one place they'd all be coming after the three. And there were a lot of them: the Titan's elevator was very large and it had been packed to the brim with the undead when it had stopped.

And she was out of buckshot. She snapped the shotgun open and tilted it as the expended shells fell out, and she reached behind her to where she had stuffed more ammo in the hem of her skirt, grabbing two more shells. But her fingers fumbled and she dropped them. Starfire ducked down quickly and grabbed them up, quickly shoving them into the chambers and snapping them shut. She looked up…

Too late. A zombie had made its way to her and it was too close to shoot, as its hands reached for her and it moaned in unholy hunger…

Starfire slammed the gun forward, ramming the end of the weapon into the zombie's rotten stomach and shoving it straight out the other end, as bits of muscle and spinal column fell to the floor behind the zombie. The zombie jerked and one arm went dead, but the other continued to grasp and claw at her, barely kept at bay by her shotgun brace, and others were right behind him…

Starfire twisted her body, the gun, and the zombie to the side, and pulled the trigger. She had thrust her gun up and it was at just the right angle as she fired through the monster and blew most of her target's head off. But another was coming at her. Fighting down her gorge, she shoved her hand into the zombie's rotten midsection, trying to ignore the horrible coldness and sludge as she grabbed the barrel and cocked it, turning, firing and blowing the second zombie in half. The zombie she had the gun stuck through moaned loudly and clawed at her head as she cocked the gun again, grabbing her hair, and she screamed and pulled the trigger again as she blew away the final zombie and reared backwards, letting go of the gun. The zombie spasmed and then tried to go forward again…and then a Birdarang sliced half its head off, and it collapsed towards Starfire. Starfire reached her hands up and caught the butt of the gun as it fell, stopping the flight, and then she put her foot up and shoved the corpse off the weapon, sliding backwards and getting up.

"Now the party's pumping. Say hello to my little friends!" Cyborg yelled, as he finally dragged two grenades out of the bag. He pulled out the pins and threw the explosives into the back of the crowd. The heat and the shockwave splattered half of the zombies into quivering chunks and threw all the remaining zombies forward, onto their faces or just giving them a brief boost towards their goal: the Titans. Robin spread out his fingers as four small metal discs appeared between them, and he slashed his arm out, the discs smashing through the faces and skulls of the zombies in the lead.

But more still came.

But not before Cyborg had reached into the crate and pulled out two assault rifles, leaping back with one of the bags of ammo. Starfire finished reloading her shotgun, cocked it, and opened fire again, blowing holes in torsos and heads apart.

"Fearless!" Cyborg said as he tossed one of the guns to Robin.

"Not any more." Robin replied, as he took aim, and the two males opened up, the deep throaty chatter of their weapons joining Starfire's explosive blasts as they mowed down and blew apart the remaining zombies. Starfire's gun ran dry before the other two, and she dropped the shotgun and reached behind her, withdrawing the automatic and snapping in the clip, using it to finish off the last few stragglers.

After all the zombies were down, there was silence for a few seconds, as the group lowered their guns and took deep breaths.

"What is that expression?" Starfire said. "I hate to say I told you so, but I told you…"

"All right Kory, you were right." Robin said, lowering his gun.

"Where the hell did these things come from?" Cyborg said.

"I could give you an answer, but you'd think I'm crazy." Robin said.

"No Tim, zombies coming out of nowhere to attack us, THAT'S crazy."

"Point. Well…"

"Look!" Starfire said, pointing.

The zombies were beginning to fade away, and as the three watched in astonishment, the mounds of dead bodies, parts, and other gross things slowly disappeared, fading out like they never were. Even the blood and guck on the three Titans disappeared, though their injuries did not.

"OK." Cyborg said. "Robin, you said something about an explanation."

"The movies." Starfire suddenly said, as she put her gun down. "In the pile on the VCR. The pile that was destroyed at the same time when we were zapped by that energy and rendered powerless. One of them was one of Beast Boy's zombie movies."

"So, you're saying…what? No way!" Cyborg said, asking the question and realizing the answer at the same time.

"I'd say the writing is on the wall. I don't know how, but something brought those zombies to life…"

"The others!" Starfire suddenly said, remembering that while the three of them might have survived, knew what was happening, and were armed for it, her comrades were not.

"My idea exactly. Grab what you can carry and let's move it. If some weirdo dark magic feedback something or other has somehow brought movies to life…there were a lot of movies in that pile. Who knows what else might have been set…"

The door to the stairs slammed open.

"HAHHHHHH!" The three Titans yelled as they swung their guns around.

"AHHHHHHH!" Screamed Gauntlet, waving his arms. "Don't shoot! I come in peace! I taste terrible! Etc, etc!"

"Robert! You are ok!" Starfire said.

"Well, yeah…I checked the fuses. I couldn't find any damage to them…"

"I don't think it's the fuses Gauntlet. I think something else is happening."

"Yeah, I gathered that from the gunfire. What small country did you just declare war on?"

"Monsters." Starfire whispered.

"What? Did Aberration break out again?"

"No." Robin said, and then he gave as abbreviated a version as possible of what had happened and why they thought it had.

When it was done, Gauntlet stared.

And then he burst out laughing.

"Do not laugh Gauntlet. You would not be doing so if you had arrived a minute sooner." Starfire said.

"Well…right. But guys…seriously. You actually think something has brought a bunch of horror movies to life."

"Not just the villains. EVERYTHING. The lighting for instance. It's never good in a film. And our splitting up. When I think of it, I never would have done so in the first place…but I did now…because that's what's supposed to…where's Terra?"

"I don't know. She didn't want to go out into the rain. When I came back, she was gone." Gauntlet said.

"Shit. I hope she didn't run into something else. Without our powers…" Cyborg said, as he finished taking what he could from the crate, which was still half full but now inconvenient.

"Come on guys. I mean, I can see zombies happening…"

"This wasn't Grave. It didn't feel the same." Robin interrupted.

"Ok, maybe not. But seriously…are we going to run into Freddy Krueger? Is Leatherface going to pop out of a door and chase after us? Oh, oh! Can we run into the Candyman? I want to ask him what kind of Beetlejuice ripoff he is, I mean come on, at least you only have to say Beetlejuice's name three times…"

"Don't joke Rob. We could very well run into any or ALL of those villains. Maybe more." Robin said.

"Archetypes." Starfire whispered again. "Absolutes brought to life. They are not like our human foes, even the supernatural foes we have faced. They had subtleties, nuances, reasons why they did what they did. These creatures are not like that. They are born out of a world where death is the reason they exist. They kill, therefore they are."

"So we better be ready to kill them first." Cyborg said, as he tossed Gauntlet an Uzi. He managed to catch it. "Don't say anything. You might need it."

"Where do we go first?" Starfire asked.

"Scalpel. He's helpless. We should move him, put him behind a locked…"

"Hello? Is anyone there? Come in Titans." Crackled a voice, and after the Titans wee finished jumping Robin realized it had come from his dropped communicator.

It was Savior's voice.

"Savior? Are you ok?" Robin yelled as he picked the device up and flipped it open. Savior's confused face stared back at Robin.

"Uh, yeah. Man, what's going on? I've been fooling with this thing for five minutes and all I got was…"

"Savior, listen up. Don't talk, we might lose contact at any minute. There are things in the Tower." Robin said.

"Things? Define things, that's rather vague…"

"I don't have time to explain! I just think that…well…"

"The horror films Beast Boy placed on the VCR have been brought to life!" Starfire yelled.

Savior's look of confusion didn't last long as his picture suddenly broke into static.

"Savior! Come in…"

"…repeat that I could have…horror films are coming alive." Crackled Savior's voice, and then his picture solidified again.

"Savior, I know all the things you're thinking, but you have to listen. There may be monsters in the Tower. You have to be CAREFUL."

"…Ok, I'll take your word for it for now…but seriously…"

"They already heard this part!" Gauntlet said. Now that none of the Titans had said "Surprise!" and revealed the joke, the reality (or lack of it) was beginning to sink in to Robert Candide: there were monsters in the tower, and the Gauntlet wasn't working. And, though he was keeping it at bay at the moment, was scaring him more then anything. Being a superhero was all Robert really knew: being normal was starting to wear at him as he realized he was once again susceptible to things like injury and mortality. But he couldn't freak out now. If only for Starfire's sake.

"Right."

"Where's Raven?" Cyborg asked.

"She left to get me a crowbar. But…"

"You're ALONE? Savior, find Raven quick! You're vulnerable!"

"Vulnerable? That's what…"

The picture distorted into static again, and Savior's voice faded. Robin frantically fiddled with the buttons and after fourteen seconds somehow managed to restore the picture.

"Repeat Savior."

"Well…I managed to finally get the door open. I wanted to make a report…"

"What? You got in? Quickly Savior, grab the Eye of Archetypal, that's a key part in…!"

"No! Listen! The orb is gone!"

"Gone? It's been stolen?"

"No." Savior said, as he looked down from where he was talking…and at the dark hole at his feet. "Whatever caused all this…it apparently gave the orb lessons on how to generate heat like a small star. Damn thing fell off the pedestal and melted right through the floor."

"The floor?"

"At least one. That's what I wanted to say. If you see Raven before I do, don't tell her to come back here. She needs to go BELOW the evidence room. That's where she'll find the orb. Hopefully."

"What do you mean hopefully?"

"Well it could very well have br…"

The picture spazzed out again.

"Savior? Can you hear me…"

"Losing you…eye out…but evidence room…filled with weapons…" Savior's voice said through distortions of static.

"Savior! We're going to check the lounge! Make your way there if you can! And watch out!" Robin yelled.

"Rog…oh yes o…Freak's remote…lted…hey wait…"

And then the line went dead.

The four Titans stared at each other.

"Ok Titans, move out, stay close, and watch the shadows. If anything decide it wants to come out of a closet and say hello, let's make it wish it stayed in Fantasyland." Robin said, as he lifted his gun, slammed a new clip in, and moved out. The three followed, and thankfully they didn't notice that Gauntlet was starting to get…jittery, like a caffeine addicted deprived of coffee.

It was probably best. They didn't need to know that a nervous teenager with a Uzi was bringing up their rear.

Then again, when the night was over, getting shot in the back by a twitchy trigger finger may yet be the best way to go.

* * *

"Robin? You there? Hello?" Savior said, but much like his comrades, all he got was static. Snorting, he closed his communicator.

"Horror movies? Are they serious?" Savior said, looking around. True, he'd had the feeling that he wasn't alone…but he had been expecting something a tad more believable.

Then again, Gauntlet had seemed to believe it, and as much as Savior disliked the goofy and droll teenager, he knew he wasn't a liar. Unless it was part of a prank, and Gauntlet wouldn't be pulling anything with Robin there.

He looked over to the pedestal that had once held Control Freak's remote. Now all it held was an absurdist piece of art, as whatever had gotten into the room and somehow activated Mumbo's orb had also apparently given the matter altering device a jolt as well, one it hadn't survived, as its was now a melted hunk of plastic and metal spread out over its pedestal. Savior wondered if that had something to do with what was happening in the Tower.

A noise caught his ear.

"Raven?" he said, looking at the door.

No one there. But Savior was no fool: he put himself on alert immediately. He might not have completely bought Robin's theory, but he knew SOMETHING was wrong with the Tower and he wasn't going to be caught off guard.

_Besides, in the horror films, the non-believers die first…_

Savior looked around for a weapon, and settled for Killer Moth's cocoon gun. It wouldn't harm any target, but it would seriously slow them down.

"Raven? If that is you, I am armed." Savior said, aiming at the door.

The noise again.

In the room.

Savior whirled, looking around and again finding nothing. But he KNEW he was hearing something. He thought it over, trying to puzzle out the exact sound. It wasn't one big noise, more like a bunch of little ones…all in a row…like Morse code…or maybe…

Footsteps?

Then the knife plunged into his ankle.

Even as his leg gave out and he screamed, Savior heard the mad cackling laugh, and he knew.

* * *

"I KNOW there's a crowbar in here somewhere." Raven said. She wished she had a flashlight: this storage room was even darker then the others. She wondered if she should just give up and…

And then she pulled back a tarp, and there it was.

"Well, about damn time." Raven said, reaching for it.

_Clinkclinkclinkclink!_

Raven whirled at the sudden noise, clutching the just grabbed crowbar.

"Who's there? Savior? Robin?"

No answer, and with the light seeping in from the door, the large storage room was filled with a million shadows. Raven could feel her heartbeat begin to speed up…and then she realized how stupid she was. So she heard a slight noise. That didn't mean…

_ClickclickclangclangCLANG!_

Raven's blood ran cold. That was not a noise she could so easily rationalize away. It wasn't a crate shifting, or the contents of a crate moving around, or even something falling over. It sounded like…something being run over metal.

But what?

Raven's eyes darted back and forth…and then she realized her square of light was shrinking. The door was closing.

The door swung shut…

And then Raven's crowbar jammed into the almost gone gap and shoved the door open as Raven emerged into the hallway, breathing heavily. The hallway was only dimly lit, but there was a lot more light then in the storage room. She spun, propping the door open with her shoulder, as she gazed into the room, the crowbar ready to use. Though Raven dearly wished she had her powers now, or even a gun. She thought of all the times Noel had forced her to take firearms training. She had rather resented it. But now she was wishing she could take that all back if it meant that she had some protection.

Her communicator buzzed. Raven nearly screamed out loud. Then she realized what it was, and she reached down and removed it.

"…ven…there?" Came the voice. The picture was very fuzzy, but Raven thought Robin was speaking to her.

"I'm here."

"…time…Ra…orb…floor…below…"

"What? Robin, I can barely hear you."

"…things…Gar's mo…antor…"

"Say again? Gar's motors?"

"…sters…Raven…"

"Robin, I can't…"

"Raven!" came the voice, clearer now.

"Robin, I can hear you!"

"Raven, the orb is not in the Evidence Room! It's melted through the floor! It's now BELOW the room, I don't know how much! Head there immediately!"

"But Robin, Savior's…"

"Raven there's…things…look out…" Robin's voice frizzed and began wavering in and out again.

"Robin, what's going on?"

"Rave…monsters…"

"MONSTERS?"

"…Believe what you see! It's there! Don't ask why!" Came blaring out of the small speaker.

And then the communicator cut out completely.

Raven's eyes slid from the staticky screen to the darkness within the storage room, and suddenly she didn't feel so curious any more.

"…Savior must be heading for the orb if it melted through the floor. I'll see if I can meet him." Raven said to herself. "But I don't feel like putting this away…I'll just keep it with me…who knows…I might need to…pry something…heh heh heh…"

And Raven closed the door to the storage room, a little too fast, and turned and started heading down the hallway. She was fine. There was nothing wrong. She was just a little on edge. That terrible fear she had felt a moment ago was just her mind overreacting…

It was a good thing Raven couldn't see what was happening inside the room she had just left. The shadows concealed virtually everything, but if one had strained one could have possibly made out the motion of a hand lifting to a chin and stroking it very lightly. For good reason.

"How tasty." A male voice said. "She'll be quite a feast."

* * *

Savior reared back, clutching his ankle and staring with unbelieving eyes at what was before him.

"You may be armed, but that don't matter if you don't have a leg to stand on!" It said. It was a two-foot doll with red hair, blue overalls, and cute little doll shoes. It should have also had a cute freckled doll face…except that doll face was now wearing a vicious smirk, showing tiny little plastic teeth. The large knife the doll was holding sure wasn't made of plastic though. Savior knew that all too well.

Savior took a few rapid breaths, as if steeling himself for what he had to say, because once he did, that meant he admitted it was real, and if it was real…

"Charles Lee Ray." Savior said.

"At your service! But please, the name is Chucky now!" The killer doll Chucky said, and bowed.

It was him. His guilty pleasure had come to life and attacked him, stabbing a knife into his leg like so many victims, straight from the movie he would have watched had this not all happened._ Child's Play 2._

_Sorry dear, Chucky's here._ Savior thought, messing up the movie's tagline as he looked at the killer doll, who was standing back up and still looking fiendishly satisfied.

"Nice place you have here buddy. I like a man who can stuff a room full of weird junk and still include a nice blade." Chucky said, holding up the weapon. Savior finally recognized it: it was from the Killjoy display.

"You're not real. You're fake." Savior said.

"Fake? FAKE? You wound me, asshole! That's MY job, and I don't much cotton to it myself!" Chucky snapped. "Don't know how I got here. I guess your orphanage must have gotten one giant fucking check."

"Oh yeah…" Savior said, as he finally remembered that he had had a gun, at least before he had dropped it in surprise. "You'd be amazed…"

"Looking for this?" Chucky said, holding up the gun.

Savior's eyes widened. _Oh shit._

"You know, I don't much like fucktards who bring guns to knife fights!" Chucky yelled, and charged at Savior.

Savior instantly thrust out his hands, much like Terra had. Like her, his power failed to answer his call, but unlike her, he was able to use the failed move better as Chucky, instead of going for his hands, ran right into them. The knife slashed at Savior's face before Savior twisted and grabbed Chucky's arm.

"AHHHHH! YOU CHEATING FUCK!" Chucky cursed, and Savior had to admit, the strength in that tiny frame was great. But Savior's was greater, as he twisted the knife out of Chucky's hand…and screamed as Chucky sank his teeth into the flesh between Savior's thumb and primary finger. Twisting, Savior reared back his arms and swung them out, hurling Chucky through the air as he screamed in rage and crashed against the wall, falling down behind a box.

Savior staggered to his feet, wincing mightily as a jolt of pain shot through his ankle. But he had the knife now. And he knew Chucky was there. The doll's main weapon was surprise: most of his victims had no idea he was more then a normal doll (A Good Guy, Savior thought crazily) until it was too late. But Savior knew, and even powerless he knew he could handle…

And then Chucky leapt up on the crate.

And he had with him a piece of evidence from a foe the Titans had fought five weeks ago, a black teen calling himself Lightshow. His main weapon had been a pair of laser guns.

One of which Chucky had now appropriated for himself.

"Smile you son of a bitch!" Chucky laughed, and fired.

The blast took Savior in the shoulder, the heat burning a hole through his limb even as the concussive force threw him backwards against a wall. As he collapsed, Chucky howled his laughter, a true bully from hell.

"You got some nice toys kid! But you really should have one as nasty as me!" Chucky laughed, and aimed for Savior's head.


	6. First Time As Tragedy, Second Time As Fa...

Part 6: First Time As Tragedy, Second Time As Farce

Raven had come to a conclusion: she was dreaming.

She had to be. Her powers were gone, the Tower was going to hell, and her friends had disappeared and she couldn't raise them on the communicator. That she could have all rationalized.

But finding the body of a figure dressed in black…that was difficult to swallow. And when she had crept around the figure and saw it was wearing an elongated white mask that she recognized from the first of the 90's slasher revival films, she went past being confused and scared and became…offended.

Yes, offended. You see, even half demon sorceresses who had fought devils and gods and aliens and dozens of other things that defied all reality as some people might know it needed boundaries. Even people like Raven needed a line that could not be crossed, a voice that said "This can't be done. It CAN'T." And while Raven could have just thought that it was some nutcase who had extraordinary timing to slip into the Tower and just happened to be wearing a Ghostface costume in honor of the season, despite the extreme amount of coincidences that would require…she could have lived with that.

But what Robin had said was clawing at her mind. Horror films had come to life. This wasn't some lunatic in a Ghostface costume. This WAS Ghostface, straight from the films. Which one was it? She'd seen all three…

And it was that that offended her. For all she had seen, Raven had, NEEDED a limit on what she could accept as real, and a horror movie coming to life…I mean, come on, what kind of corny cliché was THAT?

But here it was.

And it offended her, not like an insult would, or a sexist comment, or a racist comment if she had been black or Asian or Native American. No. This offended her on a deeper level, a level that had told her these things couldn't happen and a level that was now frantically scrambling to reform itself before a crack opened up in her brain that showed her all the other things that she had never even comprehended, a world where triangles had five sides and flowers sang and…

And that, perhaps, was why she found herself reaching for the mask, needing to know. If a stranger's face emerged when it was gone, she could go back to her comfortable reality. But if underneath it she found the face of four certain males or a female…

In the end, Raven was spared the need to assert her sanity.

As Ghostface suddenly reared up with a vicious scream and stabbed his knife at her face.

* * *

Savior opened up his eyes and wondered why he wasn't dead.

Which was very strange, because a second ago he had been wondering what kind of sick sense of humor whoever ran the universe had, for after Savior had survived high demon overlords and supercharged angry teenage deities and a myriad of other threats and horrors, what was going to do him in was a toy voiced by Brad Dourif from a 5-Part horror movie series that never really took itself seriously. I mean, he'd seen the DVD Extras of someone filming Brad Dourif, who more casual film watchers might have known better as Vima Wormtongue from the _Lord of the Ring_ film series, doing Chucky's voice and having a grand old time doing it, not taking it seriously in the slightest. I mean, it was a horror movie about a serial killer inhabiting the body of a doll. How serious could you really take something like that?

Certainly not deathly serious, but that was what was going to happen, as Chucky aimed and Savior knew he was dead…

Except he wasn't. He opened his eyes that he had squeezed shut, blinked, and then flicked them to the right side of his head, where there was now a small smoking hole. Had Chucky missed?

"What am I DOING?" Chucky suddenly said, and Savior turned his eyes to the doll as he lowered the gun slightly. "I just realized…I suddenly appear here, wherever here is…and then you show up…which means…you're the first one HERE to know who I really am…" Chucky said to himself, and then that nasty grin spread over his face again.

And Savior felt a deep chill seize his guts as he came to the same conclusion Chucky had.

You see, the main reason Chucky existed was that, back when he was a man (Charles Lee Ray) and a serial killer (The Lake Shore Strangler), he had been taught voodoo. When a cop had cornered him in a toy store and fatally wounded him, Chucky had called upon a voodoo deity called Damballa to transfer his soul into the body of a Good Guy doll in order to keep from dying. That was bad enough…the problem was that Chucky could also transfer his soul OUT of the doll and into another, HUMAN body if he could find the proper one and recite the spell. And the proper one was…the first person he revealed his true self to.

Which was Savior.

"Oh man, this is great! Look at you! You're young and powerful! And to think I was going to settle for a kid! And I love the hair, by the way." Chucky said, and laughed that hyena-manic laugh he had.

Savior grit his teeth.

"Fuck you." He snapped.

"Oh, going to be a bother I see. Well buddy, I don't mind having a few holes in my new body. I'VE HAD WORSE!" Chucky yelled, and aimed the gun again.

The laser blast singed a hole where Savior's left leg had been, as he had rolled and dove behind a nearby crate. Chucky just laughed and opened fire on the crate, and Savior ducked and dodged behind it as the laser blasts drilled through it…and knocked the crate open, spilling out a variety of junk the Titans had crated up and forgotten…

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Chucky laughed, and aimed again.

And Savior came up, holding a strange weapon from a wannabe foe the Titans had fought sometime in the past, someone called Goldenglove who was obsessed with boxing and was also a chump. His only real thing of note had been the shoulder cannons on his suit, which fired metal boxing gloves.

And could also function as guns, as Savior pulled the trigger. Chucky screamed, a scream that was cut off with a dull crunch as the metal projectile flew into his face, sending him flying backwards as he hit the wall again.

"YOU FUCKING SHIT!" Chucky screamed, blood running from his nose and his mouth, his plastic teeth now chipped and blood pouring from within. That was a downside of the "transfer souls" spell: whatever Chucky inhabited eventually started to become human. And that meant that it could be hurt, AND killed. Though the latter was amazingly tricky for a doll.

"YOU ASSHOLE! YOU SHITSTAIN!" Chucky bellowed: he had a REALLY foul mouth, as he scrambled off before Savior could shoot him again. Savior dropped the empty gimmick cannon and picked up something simpler: a metal pipe. Reaching over and grabbing Chucky's discarded knife, and then bracing himself, he managed to get to his feet, and began to limp towards where Chucky was. Had he been a bit more aware, Savior might have left the room and gone to look for help…but if Chucky was here, then he could very well run off and pull one of his "Surprise!" moments from his films…and Savior wasn't going to have one of his teammates stumble across a "harmless" doll and pick it up and end up with a jugular cut in twain.

"Come on Chucky! You want my body? Well, you'll have to earn it!" Savior said, limping around, his eyes darting back and forth. "Come on! It has an amazing bonus! It can shoot out energy lines that can do all sorts of things! You like to strangle people, right? I know someone you'll get along great with!"

As Savior slowly turned around, a hand reached up and snatched something from another exhibit across the room.

"You certainly drive a hard sell!"

Savior whirled. Chucky had pulled himself up on the pedestal, grinning through blood-slicked teeth now. And he was holding something. A baton? A stick? A…

Wand.

"Property of the Weather Wizard! Sounds like a fucking douchebag, but still…" Chucky said, looking at the wand. "HURT HIM!"

The wand tip glowed as Chucky aimed it at Savior.

"Ah fuck." Savior said.

His dive barely took him out of the way of the lightning bolt that fired from the wand. Chucky stumbled back a step (there was some kind of recoil, it seemed), but he quickly righted himself and stared in wonderment at his new toy.

"This is AWESOME!" Chucky laughed, and opened fire on Savior, who ran for his life.

* * *

Raven screamed as Ghostface reared up and thrust the knife at her, and she had no power she couldn't deflect it she was…

A gunshot rang through the room as a hole suddenly appeared in the middle of Ghostface's forehead mask, and he stopped, hung there for a second, and then fell back, dead for good.

"That always happens." A voice commented, and Raven looked over and up at Terra, who stood holding a smoking gun out. Strangely, she had a katana on her back, and her face and right hand were bandaged.

"Terra…" Raven said.

"Raven, and Raven, you were the horror addict when I arrived. Don't you know that when you kill the monster, never check to see if it's really dead?"

"Don't try to remove its mask either. That will just make it get back up, and this time it's going to be pissed." Beast Boy said as he stepped out from behind Terra. He had his right arm in a sling and bandages wrapped tightly around his chest. In his free arm, he looked to be carrying a small hand axe. "Then again, you always preferred more cerebral fare then us Rae."

"Guys…thanks Terra...but what happened?"

"I had a run in with that…bastard…" Terra said, her voice trailing off. Raven blinked and then looked back.

Ghostface was fading away, his body distorting like a TV picture and then ceasing to exist.

"Good riddance. Go back to sequel hell or wherever you guys go." Terra said, and lowered her gun.

"That…" Raven said.

"Was Ghostface. From the _Scream_ series. Yeah, I know. I ran into the Fisherman from _I Know What You Did Last Summer._ By the way, when you get the chance, take Nigel's name off the chore list. The guy, despite barely being able to move, carried me all the way from the lounge to the medical center, sewed me up, and actually managed to do the same for Terra before he completely collapsed. We both owe him BIG time."

"Scalpel…my god, where's Scalpel?"

"Back at the center. It's…"

"What?"

"Scalpel utterly exhausted everything he had to help us. He even broke out the "battle plasma" so we'd be back on our feet and in optimum condition for whatever else decides to come after us." Beast Boy said. The "battle plasma" he was referring to was an alien technique/treatment of blood: Nigel's race had spent CENTURIES warring with one thing or another, and their medics often had to get injured warriors back into the fight ASAP. To help speed this up, his race had developed a way to treat members who had lost a lot of blood get back on their feet much quicker: a chemical that was mixed with clear plasma that "supercharged" it and basically negated the effects of losing a lot of blood, like lethargy. It worked with human blood/plasma as well, but it was hard to make, and the fact that Nigel had used most of the stores to save Gar and Tara's lives spoke a lot of his character. "But…whatever has done this…it hasn't just sealed our powers. It's basically made us all human. And Scalpel…"

"His chest wound." Raven said, realizing it. A long time ago, Savior had made a tactical decision that Nigel had wanted: he had stabbed a Shimmer strand through Scalpel in order to get at the foe Scalpel was holding. It had been a bad decision: not only had it not dealt with the foe, but it had inflicted a serious wound to Scalpel's torso. And while Blacktrinians could handle certain injuries that would have been invariably fatal to humans, the wound Savior had left had been pretty serious, and due to Scalpel's constant physical efforts, it had, even after a few years, never been able to heal properly. As a result, it tended to open up in bad fights and other great exertions. But for a Blacktrinian, that was little more then an inconvenience…

Unless said Blacktrinian had been cursed with the attributes of a human. A wound like THAT in a human…

"We bandaged him as best we could…and since his room is right next to the medical center we helped ourselves to some of his weapons…but he really pushed the hell out of himself helping us…Raven, we need to get to that orb and reverse the effects, or Scalpel WILL bleed to death." Terra said.

"…….Robin said the orb melted through the floor of the Evidence Room. It's on one of the lower floors." Raven said.

"Elevator." Beast Boy said.

"Sounds good to me." Terra replied, sticking the gun in the waist of her shorts and heading off.

"Hang on Nigel. We'll save you." Beast Boy said, thinking of his friend, left lying on the stretcher back in the medical room, so utterly and completely exhausted that even if something came after him he wouldn't be able to defend himself. "I promise."

* * *

"No one's here." Cyborg said, as he looked around the lounge.

"But someone was." Robin said, looking at the broken TV and the blood splatters on the floor. He reached down and felt on the ground. "This one's still pretty fresh. Whatever happened here happened pretty recently."

"Oh no…our friends…our friends…" Starfire said, putting one hand to her mouth.

"It's ok Kory. There's blood, but no bodies. They could still be alive." Cyborg said.

"Hate to be a mood killer, but…" Robin said, and then trailed off. "Did anyone hear that?"

"Hear what?" Gauntlet said, and then he heard it…a strange…sloshing noise.

It was coming from the kitchen, and Gauntlet whirled in that direction, aiming his Uzi. He couldn't make out anything in the eating area though: the bright lights that Beast Boy and Terra had enjoyed had faded to almost nothing.

"Cyborg, come on. Cover me." Gauntlet found himself saying, and before his brain could scream at him that going over there with the Gauntlet disabled was the LAST thing he wanted to do, he was already moving. Cyborg ran over to Gauntlet's back as he crept over to the kitchen…and jerked inside, waving his gun.

Nothing.

Well, not exactly. The cabinets below the sink were open, and there was a huge pool of water on the floor in that general area. Gauntlet wrinkled his nose.

"Anything there?" Robin asked.

"Nothing. The sink appears to have sprung a leak though. Maybe that was it." Gauntlet said, and turned and headed back to where Robin and Starfire were.

Too bad he didn't stay in the kitchen. If he had, he might have noticed the huge pool of water was moving. That may not have seemed all that strange…except it was moving UP.

"I'm going to try the communicator again." Robin said, as he pulled the round device out. "Any Titans who read, come in! This is Robin! Over!"

Nothing but static.

"Titans! Come in! Please!" Robin said.

Static. Starfire was now muttering to herself on her native tongue, offering prayers to gods she no longer really believed in to take as much joy and prosperity in her life as they wanted as long as her friends stayed all right.

"Titans! Come in! Come in! Titans!" Robin said. But the static didn't change, and with a heavy heart Robin closed the communicator and tucked it away.

"It's ok Fearless. We'll find them." Cyborg said.

"I hope so…" Robin said, and sighed, looking around at the group that was loosely clustered around him. "Man, I used to think they were fools, but I'm beginning to see the wisdom in those who, went stressed, want a drink." Robin said.

"You want a drink?" Starfire asked, confused.

"Yeah. Hell, I need a drink." Robin said.

"And all drinks need ice!"

And then it was fired at the group, coming on the heels of the nasty voice that had just spoken. Robin reacted on instinct, throwing himself away. The projectile fired over his head, a hair from slicing into his cheek. If he hadn't moved it would have probably impaled itself in his eye…

And Robin couldn't believe his eyes from the brief glimpse he had gotten of the missile as it had flown over him.

Was that an…ICICLE?

Robin rolled backwards and flipped back to his feet, aiming his gun at the figure that had appeared in the kitchen. Robin couldn't make out much due to the lack of light, but the figure seemed to be…white. Yes, he could make out a white blur…a white roundish blur…what the hell…

"Another one!" Starfire said.

"Yeah well, he'll get a nice welcome!" Cyborg said, as he armed his gun. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!"

The figure laughed.

"Oh, I'm someone all right!" It said. "I'm not Jack In The Box, or Jack of All Trades. I'm Not Jack O'Lantern, or Jack Djinn. No!"

And then the figure stepped, or more accurately slid forward, revealing itself.

"I'm…JACK FROST!"

And the Titans stared at the newly arrived horror movie villain, a terrible, evil…

Snowman.

Gauntlet broke down into hysterical laughter a second later. The other three were a bit more restrained, but it was clear they were fighting back their own laughter. Even Starfire seemed amused.

"My god…Gar, did you get that one? Oh man! What's going on in the horror movie industry? I mean…HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Gauntlet howled. Jack Frost certainly didn't seem amused: his twig eyebrows curled down ever his coal eyes, giving him a pretty accurate expression of anger.

"You laugh now, but you won't once I put you on ice!" Jack Frost yelled, and raised one of his stubby arms. And you really can't blame Gauntlet for not taking him seriously: would you take what looked like a bad polystyrene snowman costume seriously? It didn't even look like it was made of snow…

The icicles that fired from Jack's arm were certainly made of ice though, and razor sharp. And without the Gauntlet shield, the only thing Gauntlet had standing in between them and something in his body that wouldn't do well to be skewered was flesh and blood…and as that has been demonstrated, that's not really a lot of protection.

Too bad for Mr. Frost when Robin whipped out a Birdarang and threw it right through the icicles, smashing them to pieces before they hit Gauntlet.

"Thanks Robin." Gauntlet said, as Jack Frost's twig eyebows went up in surprise.

"Don't mention it." Robin said, as he reached down and brought the barrel of his gun up. "Shall we?"

"Let's." Cyborg said, doing likewise.

"You can't stop me!" Jack Frost said, and ran (well, slid on his rounded bottom) forward.

"Yeah. We can." Gauntlet said.

And all four opened fire. Jack Frost was instantly riddled, filled with holes and then blown apart, his snow body scattering all over the floor, his twig eyebrows, coal eyes, carrot nose, and red scarf falling down in the mess.

The guns shut off as the Titans started firing.

"I'll give them a point for originality but minus ten points for execution." Gauntlet said, lowering his gun.

"Right. Come on guys, let's…"

"FUCKERS!!!!!!!!!"

And then the snow flowed up and reformed into Jack Frost, not a hair (er, ice crystal?) out of place. "No one gives ME the snow job! I'll rip you open and write my name on your organs!"

And Jack thrust out his arms and icicles emerged from all parts of him, and as the Titans gaped at the corny as hell but even deadlier mutant snowman monster, they fired out, lancing at the four.

* * *

Savior dove behind another crate, and a second later it exploded into flame as Chucky fired a lightning bolt into it. Savior threw his arm in front of his face to protect himself from flaming splinters.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Chucky laughed. "DON'T FUCK WITH THE CHUCK!"

Savior ran for it again, diving under another lightning bolt and rolling behind another crate. He'd had enough, as he stood up and prepare to throw the knife at Chucky.

Too late, he realized the second crate was made of metal. And his hand was on it.

Chucky zapped the crate and the electrical charge flowed through and sent Savior flying with a scream. He came crashing down on another crate, its contents scattering around him as he moaned.

"Whoops. Can't be stopping your heart now." Chucky said, and tossed the wand aside. He looked around and spotted something interesting: an open crate with what looked like a mechanical arm on the top. He hopped down and scampered over.

Smoking, his right arm spasming and his pipe gone, Savior tried to get up and unscramble his brains, as Chucky clambered up onto the crate, grabbed the arm, and pulled it up, surprised to find that it was rather light. He checked the tag on it.

"Raw's Battle Arm. Well then, let's see what you can do!" Chucky said, as he began fiddling with it. He found a panel of about a dozen buttons as Savior got up.

He pressed one.

The wrist snapped open and four razor sharp metal discs fired from within. Savior saw them coming and tried to dodge, but one sliced open his right arm and another grazed his forehead. As he stumbled back, blood running into his eyes, Chucky looked in awe at the arm.

"I love you!" he said, and actually kissed the limb, leaving a small bloody lip print. Then he aimed at Savior and pressed another button.

A small launcher popped out and fired a small metal spear. Savior ducked under it and then rolled out of the way as Chucky began hammering on the button and firing more and more spears at Savior. Savior came up near another broken crate and spied something.

Chucky grew bored of the spears and pressed another button, as Savior grabbed what looked like a nail gun. It wasn't a nail gun, but as the knuckles on the fingers of Raw's arm opened up, what fired out certainly looked like nails, aimed right at Savior.

Savior pressed his button first, and blue energy flowed out from the strange construct and formed into a large oval energy shield. The nails struck the shield and bounced off with a hiss.

Chucky yelled in anger and pressed the button again, but the four small followup darts fared as badly as their brothers.

"FUCKER!" Chucky yelled.

And he wiped the entire button array with the palm of his hand.

The arm nearly split apart, as a whole bunch of weapons emerged, armed, and fired, as discs, darts, spears, whirling stars, knives, spikes, and even a bladed bolo came shooting out. All of them crashed into the shield, nearly knocking Savior on his rear and shorting the construct out, causing Savior to drop it with a hiss.

"Make like a porcupine!" Chucky said, and wiped the panel again.

The arm jerked, but nothing came out. Then the whole limb started shaking, and Chucky cursed and tried to get it under control, but it just wasn't happening, and finally he had to drop the appendage. It fell to the floor, spasmed a few more times, and then lay still.

"Fucking piece of shit!" He cursed, and turned back to Savior.

As he reared back his arm and hurled one of the spears that had been fired at him and bounced off the shield at Chucky. The bladed projectile took Chucky in the stomach, and he screamed in pain.

"It's not the weapon, it's he who wields it." Savior said, as Chucky staggered back and fell off the crate, disappearing from view. Savior picked up one of the blades that had been fired at him and limped over to where Chucky was, turning around the crate.

Chucky was gone. All there was was a bloody spear and a few tiny scraps of overall material.

Savior looked around, checking behind him, back in front, and then slowly turning around. He had a feeling that Chucky would still be coming at him with all he had. The main reason, after all, that Chucky wanted to get back into a human body was that if he stayed in the doll body for too long, he would become stuck in it. And since the longer Chucky stayed in the body the more human it became, eventually his body became a strange fusion of humanity and doll, blood, flesh, and nerves mixed with wires and plastic.

Which had the nasty side effect of, though it hurt him as much as it would a human, letting him survive and keep going at full tilt despite suffering injuries that would be fatal to a human. Hell, in _Child's Play 2_ he had yanked off his own hand, replaced it with a knife, had his legs melted off by a machine and been covered with molten plastic, and he STILL had enough moxie to keep going after the protagonists until the female lead had shoved a pump into his mouth and made his head do its best impression of an over inflated balloon. That had finally put Chucky down…until the next sequel of course…

He heard the pitter-patter behind him, and he whirled and stabbed. But there was nothing there (and even if there had been, he probably would have missed…)

Savior took a step, turned around, closed his eyes, and listened…waiting…

Behind him!

Savior turned.

And Chucky swung out the hammer, the special construct the Titans had taken from a robot riding a metal horse, a joke from a genius inventor who had call the creation Polo. The main weapon of Polo had been, of course, a hammer, specially designed for combat of course, and Chucky made it live up to its design as he smashed it up and across Savior's face. It had the effect of a wrecking ball, sending Savior flying across the entire room before hitting the floor and sliding for a few more feet before he stopped. He did not move.

"Finally." Chucky hissed, and threw down the hammer. He reached behind him and withdrew the cocoon gun, and he aimed and fired it at Savior. Savior didn't even blink, and with that his body was stuck to the ground with a glob of sticky glue.

Smiling, Chucky hopped down and moved over to Savior, placing his hand on his forehead as he refreshed his memory.

"Finally, no more getting dragged up stairs, no more getting thrown around like a rag doll, no more pain and suffering. I can finally get back to BUSINESS." Chucky said, and with a maniacal gleam in his eye, he began to chant.

* * *

The icicle barrage fired out and all the Titans dove for cover. Starfire got the best of it as she dove behind the couch. The others didn't fare so well: Robin's chest armor protected him from some of the daggers, but they still sliced up his legs and left arm. Gauntlet got sliced up as well, grazed by several of the projectiles and taking one into the meat of his upper thigh, the hardened ice driving in two inches and making him stumble over a chair with a screaming curse. And Cyborg, slowest of them all, pretty much got hit everywhere…fortunately, the ice just broke on him.

"HEY!" Jack yelled.

"Is for horses!" Cyborg yelled back, as he rolled and came up on one knee as he aimed his gun and opened fire again. Bullets ripped through Jack's body, but he just laughed and slid forward. Cyborg got up and began backing away, still going full auto until his gun ran dry.

"FUCK!" Cyborg cursed, throwing the empty weapon away. "How the HELL do you kill SNOW?"

"You DON'T! SNOW KILLS YOU!" Jack yelled back, and then suddenly his features vanished and his body elongated, forming into a hand that reached out and grabbed Cyborg before he knew what was happening.

And he realized the catch. In movies, horror films often had budgets that bordered on the ridiculous. You didn't see anyone offering $100 million to make a slasher film. Hell, sometimes the makers didn't have a HUNDRED dollars, let along a hundred million. So you had terrible special effects, FX so cheesy it drew all the mice in a ten-mile radius, and CGI so poorly made you almost wish there were wires to see. Such was the case for Jack Frost and his two films. The filmmakers were stuck with a clearly fake costume, and they didn't complain, instead making the most of what they could do with what they had. And in theory, a monster made out of snow could do quite a bit…they just didn't have the budget to realistically show it.

But that didn't apply here. Jack Frost may have still had his ridiculous polystyrene appearance, but he also came equipped with all his powers, and here, budgets didn't matter. It was all about what one could DO.

And Jack Front could do quite a lot, as he slammed Cyborg into a wall, and then his snow body-hand turned and threw the teen across the room, yelling and screaming as he slammed into the wall and went right through it. Jack's snow body flowed back and reformed, and he grinned, fangs of ice flashing within his mouth.

An explosive disc flew, striking Jack in his face and detonating. Jack shuddered, and then turned and looked at Robin, a huge hole where most of his head had been. But snow quickly flowed out and restored it, much like the scene near the end of _T2_ when Sarah Conner had introduced Robert Patrick's immortal villain to her shotgun.

"I am back." He announced in a horrible Austrian accent, and went after Robin. Robin opened fire with his own gun, and it was about as effective as Cyborg's. Jack held out one of his lumpy arms, and it suddenly elongated as spikes of ice sprouted from it. Robin dropped the gun and ran, running for and up the wall and leaping off it as Jack swung out his arm, the limb extending even more and smashing everything in its way to the side as Jack tried to smash Robin.

Robin landed and hurled off twin Birdarangs. They thudded in Jack's chest and stuck there.

Jack arched one twig eyebrow.

"Ah bugger." Robin said.

The Birdarangs were fired back out at Robin at high velocity. In a blur of movement Robin whipped out his staff and spun it, knocking them both out of the air in a quick one-two motion…and then Jack's arms slammed into him, shoving him back and pinning him to the wall.

Within a second Jack had slid up to Robin, and the two were now face to face, or face to fang, as Jack Frost opened his mouth impossibly wide, long curved daggers of ice lining the inside, as he prepared to snack on Robin's countenance.

* * *

"Where are the others?" Beast Boy asked Raven, as the three hurried along the hallway, heading for the elevator.

"I left Noel back in the Evidence Room. He seemed all right, or enough to tell Robin about what happened to the Orb. Now…I don't know…but he can handle himself. We need to get our powers back, unless we want to follow the plot of these damn movies and just end up with one or two survivors." Raven said.

"Right, especially considering that I'll probably be the survivor." Terra said.

The two other Titans stopped and looked at her.

"Well, uh…I'm a natural blonde at least! Blondes with roots showing are the food of choice for nine out of ten aliens, it seems." Terra said.

"Tara, the only surefire way I know you would survive is if you were the daughter of a crusty scientist who was the world's leading expert on things with scales, Latin names, or way too many legs." Raven said.

"Right, and your chances would be even greater if you followed in his footsteps and became the world's second leading expert on things with scales, Latin names, or way too many legs. But you're not." Beast Boy said, as he reached the elevator and pressed the button.

"Well…at least I'm still a virgin!" Terra blurted.

Silence.

"No you're NOT!" Raven replied.

"Well I know YOU'RE not!" Terra shot back.

"You try staying out of bed after years of repressing all your emotions." Raven blurted back. When Beast Boy and Terra stared wide-eyed at that comment, she blushed furiously. "Er, that came out bad."

"Can we stop this? None of us really fit the archetypes that fit the definite template of survival, so I say we defy the model and make our own." Beast Boy said, as the elevator completed its trip down. "And I say we start by getting our powers back and…"

And the doors opened, and the zombies came pouring out.

* * *

Scalpel groaned slightly, as the light fixture he had been staring at suddenly had a twin. Then they were quadruplets, before the light fixture became a lone child again.

He was sprawled on the comfortable stretcher, but its softness was negated by how much his muscles ached. And below that was a disturbing feeling of his blood slowly leaking under the bandages. He had barely been able to move before, but now outside out tiny jerks of his neck, he couldn't move at all. Terra and Beast Boy hadn't wanted to leave him, but he had insisted: if they all stayed in one place they were ALL sitting ducks. Beast Boy had left Scalpel's glaive on a table next to him, for all the good it did him: even if he'd been completely fresh he wouldn't have been able to lift the weapon now. He wished that he'd had more human weapons in his room: Beast Boy and Terra had taken the only ones they could wield well.

He hoped they'd be back soon…

A sound.

Footsteps.

Scalpel did not speak. He did not want to draw any attention if it was the wrong sort.

It didn't matter though. The figures who had started to stagger around the corner of the hallway didn't have to see him. They could smell him.

Scalpel heard them then. Low moans.

He knew the sound.

"_Ohrtyiula ihuygv._" He said, as the zombies began making their way to the medical room, and the exotic meal that awaited them there.

* * *

The zombies that had come out of the elevator didn't have much in the way of qualms: they may have been getting the more "common" food, but they didn't much care.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Beast Boy screamed, scrambling back and away from the clawing arms. He made about six huge steps before he tripped and fell, even as Raven gasped in horror and Terra yelped, before pulling out her gun and opening fire. Shoots rang out, thudding into the chest, arms, and legs of a few of the zombies in the lead…

And then the gun ran dry. Terra looked at it and gulped as the masses advanced.

"I think I'm going to need more bullets."


	7. Sweat The Small Stuff

Part 7: Sweat The Small Stuff

The door crashed open, and Raven ran through it, nearly tripping on her cloak. As she stumbled, she cursed, and dropped her crowbar to claw at the neck strap that kept that part of her costume on.

The fact that nearly all the doors in Titan Tower had electronic locks was starting to seriously work against the Titans: none of the locks were cooperating. When the Titans tried to punch in the opening codes, the door was as likely to refuse them as open. And that was NOT good when you had a horde of flesh eating zombies on your heels. Last she had looked, Beast Boy and Terra had gone to cover her and tried to keep the mass from enveloping and consuming them by knocking over a few zombies and trying to get the collection bogged down. From their curses and screams she had a vague idea that it wasn't working…

Then the door, a thick oak one, was finally unlocking, and she was scrambling through, and tripping…and where were her friends?

Beast Boy plowed through the door, yelling and screaming as he tried to wrench an arm off his shoulder…just an arm. But the limb was still quite lively, as demonstrated by the fact that Beast Boy was hacking at it with his hand axe.

Terra followed on his heels, dropping her katana as she tried to get around the door and close it. A slamming impact nearly knocked her off her feet, but she managed to hold her ground and put her shoulder to the door as arms clawed around the opening, grabbing at Terra. She shrieked as one grabbed her hair, and then Beast Boy finally got the arm off and ran over, swinging the axe down and slicing the fingers off the hand. But that was all he got to do as another giant shove pushed Terra backwards, made the opening wider, and knocked Beast Boy on his rear end, as a zombie managed to cram its torso and head through the opening as it moaned and reached for Beast Boy…

The crowbar swung down, the curled end crunching into the top of the zombie's skull. Raven yanked it to the side, pulling the monster's head apart, and then Beast Boy was up and shoving the body backwards and out the door. Raven dropped her crowbar and snatched up Terra's katana, and she and Beast Boy began hacking at the limbs until they had severed enough for them to get beside Terra and shove the door closed.

"That won't hold for long." Raven said as she tossed Terra's sword to her and retrieved her crowbar.

"It never does. How far to the stairs?" Terra asked, as she pulled away from the shuddering door, hoping the electronic lock had sealed behind them.

"Should be in the next room. I hope." Raven said. She looked very odd without her cloak: her one piece bathing suit esque outfit suggested that she was running for Miss Goth America rather then running for her life.

The Titans were almost at the other end of the room that led back out into the hallway and to the set of stairs they needed to take down when the door behind them crunched and broke off, and the zombies came pouring through again.

"Fuck! I wish there was some way we could slow them down all at once!" Terra cursed.

"Uh…yes sir it's thriller! Thriller night! And I could love you more then any ghoul face ever could…" Beast Boy sang, as he started dancing. Raven and Terra gaped at him: the zombies just kept moving forward. "Ah nuts!" Beast Boy said, as he stopped and ran out the door, Raven and Terra following him into the hallway.

"What the hell was that? Did you expect them to start dancing with you?" Raven asked.

"It worked for Michael!" Beast Boy replied.

"Forget Wacko Jacko, we need to get to the Eye of Archetypal!" Raven yelled. "There's the stairs!" she said, pointing to a door at the end of the hallway. The three sprinted for it.

Terra faltered near the end.

"Wait…"

The door to the stairs swung open as more zombies emerged. Raven came to a dead stop with a small shriek.

"Ah no, ah NO! Back the…" Beast Boy began.

The door they had just exited slammed open as their original group of zombies, still anxious to have dinner with their new friends, shuffled and stumbled out.

There was nowhere left to run.

* * *

Robin didn't have anywhere left to run either, as Jack Frost prepared to do his spiritual zombie brothers proud and make a meal out of his head.

"Hey!"

Curiosity killed the cat, says an old saw. Apparently Jack Frost hadn't heard this old saw as he stopped his bite and twisted his head to see who was talking.

Starfire's hands shot out, her arms burying itself into Jack Frost's chest (it may have looked like polystyrene, but it acted like snow). Jack arched a twig eyebrow and then took a swipe at Starfire, but he was too late as she yanked out her arms, placed them on his shoulder, and vaulted over Jack Frost. When he had turned around, Jack had backed away from Robin a bit, just enough to allow Starfire the room for grabbing Robin, trying to free him. Jack yelled as she managed to pull Robin from his still-remaining arm, but the snow reformed and readjusted its grip, grabbing Robin's cape as it prepared to reform it's body to catch and hold both the teens.

"No escape!" he yelled

Starfire reached up and pressed the tiny buttons under Robin's cloak that released it from the outfit and then grabbed him around the chest and leapt backwards as hard as she could, yanking him from the snowman's weakened grip as she dove to the side.

"Hey! No fair!" Jack said, as he turned. He threw the cape down and prepared to catch his prey again...and then he recalled that Starfire had shoved something into him. His eyebrow arched again, and he shoved his own arm into his chest and withdrew what Starfire had jammed in there.

"What's this?" he asked, as he looked at the grenade.

The explosive detonated at the same time as its brother, blowing Jack Frost's top half apart.

"Robin! Are you ok?" Starfire asked, as she got up.

"I will be if he stays down!" Robin said as he also got to his feet. He checked his belt: not much left in the way of incinerary weaponry…

"You little PRICKS!" came a muffled yell as the snow flowed together and reformed. "Do you have any idea, how much that stings?"

"Do you have some place we can shoot you which WON'T grow back?" Starfire asked as she retrieved her machine gun.

"I don't know honey-boobs, why don't you come over here and find out?" Jack sneered back, and then he removed his carrot nose and waggled it obscenely at Starfire. Starfire's eyes widened at the implication.

Then a Birdarang sliced the carrot in half. Jack stopped his lecherous look and turned his eyes to the severed vegetable.

"Hey! I can't exactly go into a car dealership and buy a car to replace what these mean, you know!" Jack yelled.

Starfire blew Jack's head off. It promptly reformed.

"Castrating little bitch, ain't she?" Jack commented, and slid forward. The two Titans backed up, riddling Jack with bullets, but they didn't even slow him down. Finally Starfire's gun ran out, and left with no other options, she hurled it at Jack. He promptly caught it…and ate it.

"Yum. I need more iron in my diet." He said. Had they not been fighting so hard to stay alive, the two may have groaned at his terrible puns.

Robin's gun was empty as well, and he dropped it and pulled out his staff.

"Go Star!" He ordered.

"But Robin…"

"Go! I'll hold him off!" Robin said.

"And your girl accuses ME of phallic envy?" Jack said, looking at Robin's staff.

Robin just leapt forward with a karate yell, spinning and swinging his staff down, as Starfire ran away.

The metal rod caught Jack in the top of his round head and went all the way down to his lower "stomach"…where it stopped. Robin tried to pull it out, but it was stuck fast, as Jack's upper body reformed as his mouth smirked at Robin.

"Lemme guess, splitting headache?" Robin ventured.

"Actually, I was going to go for "Gemna, eat your heart out.", but meh." Jack said, and yanked up one arm as a huge curved ice blade formed on it. Robin backflipped away as the deadly weapon slashed down, embedding itself in the floor. Robin spun up and then did a Matrix esque dodge backwards as his staff was fired at him at high velocity. Spinning back up, he gaped as Jack pulled his arm free and then leapt up, forming into a huge snowball that sprouted ice spikes and commenced rolling at Robin.

Robin pulled out his grappling hook and fired it at the ceiling, the cord yanking him up and away from the deadly boulder…until an icicle fired from the ball and caught the cord, slicing it clean off and putting Robin in freefall. He landed on the couch and knocked it over, rolling to a stop as Jack reformed into his snowman form.

"You didn't get the memo, did you?" Jack said, sliding forward, his right arm forming into a huge spiked mace. "This is a winter NO MAN'S LAND."

* * *

Not knowing what else to do, Raven swung her crowbar at the first zombie she could reach. The blunt end crunched through a rotten rib cage, and Raven twisted the bar aside and threw the zombie into the wall, splattering rotten pieces of skin and muscle on it. She swung at the next one at an upward angle and broke its brainpan open, but that only seemed to annoy it as he clawed at her, and she stumbled back.

Terra was looking back and forth as Raven retreated towards her and Beast Boy approached the original group. Which one should she support? If she supported Beast Boy she could slow the main mass down, but that could allow the zombies to form an impregnable plug at the stairs, but if she supported Raven Beast Boy could be overwhelmed by the larger group that had been chasing them. If only they could knock down all the zombies at the stairs at once…

And then she saw the fire extinguisher, and it clicked.

"GAR!"

"What?" Beast Boy said, twisting his head to see if Terra was in danger.

"Get over here!" she yelled (though she did not throw a spear, heh heh), as she ran over, trying to hold her katana with one arm while she unhooked the heavy red canister with the other. It finally came off, nearly landing on and crunching her foot, as Beast Boy appeared at her side. This ended the small blockade he had made against the mass that were chasing them though, and they were fast approaching…

"Beast Boy, hold this up!" Terra said, dropping her katana as she scooped the extinguisher up. Beast Boy yelped as she dumped the heavy, awkward cylinder onto his free arm. He struggled to hold it as Terra tried to adjust it to her purpose, and he turned his head and yelped: the zombies behind them were less then ten feet away.

"TERRA!"

"I'M TRYING! DON'T MOVE!" Terra yelled, as she made one final adjustment, and then quickly snatched her katana up. "When this goes off, be ready to run!"

"Wha?" Beast Boy said as Terra darted around him.

Moaning, twin zombies reached for her. She cleaved the head and right arm off one (had she been attacking a normal human, she probably wouldn't have been able to make such a potent cut, but these zombies had soft, vulnerable bodies…) and then sliced the second in half. Rotten blood sprayed her, but she ignored it as she turned…

And the top half of the zombie, crawling along the floor, reached out and grabbed her ankle, sinking its teeth deep into her boot. She yelled and forgot her task as she began dancing, even as more zombies approached…

And then Terra twisted her foot away, a hunk of tough leather coming away from her boot as she managed to get her right foot under the zombie and, with a burst of adrenaline, half kick half lift the top half of the body into the air, sending it crashing into the crowds and knocking them back. She whirled back to Beast Boy, who had been a good boy and hadn't moved. If they survived, she'd think of a way to reward him for that.

"RAE! HIT THE DECK!" Terra screamed.

Raven whirled from the latest zombie she had managed to bludgeon into submission, even as half a dozen more came, and she saw Terra swing her sword up while Beast Boy stood with a fire extinguisher on his shoulder, and she suddenly realized what was going on and dove for the floor.

Terra's blade slashed down, severing the end of the extinguisher. The carbon dioxide gas exploded out, the high pressure it was under firing the cylinder like a torpedo. It flew across the hallway and smashed into the lead zombie with a sickening wet crunch, splattering it to pieces as it smashed into the zombie behind it, taking off its rotten head. Within a few seconds the impromptu missile had flown through all the zombies that were coming out of the stairwell, knocking them into pieces or at least down.

Terra was already running after it, dragging Beast Boy. Raven was just getting up when the green teen grabbed her and they all ran past the twitching pieces, reaching the door and hearing the moans to their left. More zombies, all the way up the stairs…but none down. That path was clear, and as the fire extinguisher fell down in the center gap that circled down to the ground floor and landed with a loud clanging noise, the three were stampeding down the stairs, the zombies that had been in the stairwell when the fire extinguisher missile flew in getting up and resuming the chase.

The three Titans ran and jumped down two flights before they went through a door, stopping and opening it with as much caution as they could due to their pursuit. But no zombies emerged from this door as it swung out into an empty, dimly lit hallway, and the Titans ran through it.

There was no lock on this door, but there happened to be some benches, chairs, and a filing cabinet nearby (Raven thought this was the rarely used administrative floor). Within ten seconds the door was barricaded, and then a filing cabinet was shoved in front of it as the door began to shake, as arms pounded on it and voices moaned in unholy hunger.

"You better hope it had enough heat to melt through two floors." Raven said as she turned, trying to match up the blueprints in her mind on where the Eye of Archetypal would be if it HAD melted through two floors.

"And if it didn't?" Terra asked.

"Well, we could always hope there aren't any other zombies infesting the stairs. Or hey, maybe one of our teammates left a mini-gun lying around." Raven replied tersely, as she stalked off, her gore-drenched crowbar dripping blood and worse on the floor beside her.

* * *

Scalpel didn't have a barricade. He didn't even have a door. All he had with his glaive, and he couldn't even lift it, as the first of the zombies stepped into the room.

Scalpel began running through his options. Maybe they couldn't bite through his skin, and even if they did, his blood was as potent as napalm…

And then he remembered why that highly potent blood wasn't eating through his gurney. Because it no longer had the qualities of Blacktrinian blood. It was human, and so was he, and that made him…

The zombies moaned, and began shuffling across the room.

It made him a snack.

* * *

"Hey."

Jack stopped at the female voice, the voice that very close to him, and promptly showed he had learned nothing from last time as he turned around.

Starfire was back, and she had a weapon. But it wasn't another gun, or a grenade, or a flamethrower. Instead it was one of the lamps that the Titans had in some of their rooms: the type with a large, round, heavy bottom. Starfire had either found a lamp with a very long cord or managed to stumble across an extension cord, because the bulb at the end was still alight.

Jack looked at this and smirked.

"Oh what are you going to do, make shadow puppets?"

"Actually, yes." Starfire said.

"Oh really, that's…WHAT? Did you just agree with me?"

"No, but this served as a suitable distraction for Robin to grab his special fire explosive."

"WHAT?" Jack yelled, and swirled around again…

To find Robin was still trying to get up from his fall.

This kept him from seeing Starfire rear the heavy end up and then shift the lamp in her arms so she brought the other end down, smashing the light bulb against the ground and shattering it.

"Oh look, I lied again." Starfire said.

Jack spun around, spikes forming on his arm…

And Starfire jammed the end of the lamp into his chest. There was a loud crackle and then the lights began to flash crazily as Jack's snowman body provided a great conductor for electricity, and he yelled, thrashed, and spasmed as the energy pulsed through him, the heat distorting his features and then destroying them entirely as he melted.

Starfire dropped the lamp as Jack Frost slumped into a pile of loosely defined sludge and then fell apart completely, the electricity reducing him to a puddle.

"Nice work." Robin said as he got up, limping slightly.

"I learned from the best." Starfire said. "But I am not sure if that will work…"

"Well I don't think he can regenerate as long as he can't…"

And then with a final crash, the lamp pole shorted out, the electricity stopping.

Robin and Starfire looked at each other, and then they broke headlong for the nearest door.

"I DON'T THINK SO!" came a loud yell, as a pool of water zipped past them. They stopped dead as it flowed up and reformed back into Jack Frost. The two stared in horror.

"Getting the picture? YOU CAN'T KILL ME." Jack said.

A loud bang sounded behind Jack. He looked like he wanted to blink, except he didn't have eyelids to do so, so he just settled for looking down at the large hole that was now in his chest.

"You people are slow learners. Must have been too many snow days." Jack said, turning around to look at his attacker.

The shotgun boomed again as Cyborg fired. Jack was tossed backwards a bit from the impact, another hole appearing in his body. Robin and Starfire got out of the way as the battered and bruised and mad as hell Cyborg cocked his gun and again fired. Jack bounced back a bit more. Cyborg cocked it again, boom, bounce. Boom, bounce. Boom, bounce. Boom, bounce.

Click.

Cyborg's eye widened as his gun failed to produce another "Boom, bounce." Jack finally stopped, looking down at his swiss cheese body, and then the holes closed up. He looked up, raised a digit-less snow hand, and waved it back and forth, again imitating Robert Patrick's immortal villain.

"What were you expecting? A pit of molten steel to spring up behind me? I don't know what's been in the snow you're eating, but I don't think it was urine." Jack said.

"Can you please stop with the puns? Kill me, but stop with the puns." Cyborg said.

"Oh? You could do better?" Jack said.

"Actually, come to think of it…I could do worse."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah…let's just say…urine for it now." Cyborg said.

And Jack registered the figure behind him and turned…

"ANTIFREEZE!" Gauntlet yelled as he thrust out his right arm, a line of liquid spraying out from the plastic container he was holding and splashing onto Jack.

Jack Frost screamed, and then Gauntlet swung out his other arm and splashed another container of the car fluid onto the snowman. Jack Frost staggered back, screaming, as smoke poured from his body.

"……..ANTIFREEZE?" Robin said, as he joined Gauntlet's side, as Jack Frost continued to thrash and shout.

"When in Rome, do what would be ridiculous in real life." Gauntlet replied.

* * *

"I thought you said this was the room!" Beast Boy yelled.

"It is. Damn thing must not have generated enough heat. We have to go up a floor." Raven said.

"Oh great…" Terra said, wishing she had never heard of George Romero and Tom Savini as the three headed for the nearest staircase. They had heard distant crashing in the distance: their friends were back on the chase.

When the door to the stairway opened, however, there were no zombies. The three allowed themselves four seconds of recon before they sprinted up the stairs and into the door one floor above. No zombies there as well, as the three made their way through the hallways, jumping at every small noise.

"Ok…if I remember correctly…the orb should be right…" Raven said, and stopped.

She stared at a door she had seen many times, but it was as if she was seeing it for the first time.

It was the door to Cyborg's room. Usually it was always open…because when it was closed…

It was locked.

"FUCK!" Raven yelled, slamming her hands on the door. The two other Titans gasped at this sudden display of profanity. "The orb is in here! And the door's locked!"

"Well, let's go find Cyborg and ask for the key…" Terra began…

A nearby door suddenly crashed open, and the three jerked their heads as zombies began emerging.

"When did THEY get the ability to teleport?" Raven cursed.

"Standard horror film rule No 36, though it usually applies more to…"

"That doesn't matter!" Raven yelled. She grabbed Beast Boy and shoved him forward a bit. "This door has a code lock! You're great friends with Victor! Crack it!" Raven yelled, and then she picked up her crowbar and stalked towards the zombies.

"But…but…" Beast Boy said.

"Oh come on Gar, you've done this before." Terra said, and then she sprinted to join Raven as the two prepared to hold off the zombies while Gar tried to break into his own friend's room.

"Uh…ok…Cyborg?" Beast Boy said, typing it in. It buzzed, indicating it was wrong. "Damn. Um…Victor? No. Stone? No. VictorStone? No. Vic Stone? No? Hmmm…Grobyc? No…"

"HURRY!" Terra screamed as she hacked off the limb of one zombie, spun around, and then split one from his thinning hair to its festering crotch. She would have been proud of herself, except the one now lacking an arm was trying to get the job done with its teeth.

* * *

"Something has occurred to me…" Starfire said.

"What?" Robin asked.

"If the antifreeze was fatal…why is he still moving?"

BLUUUURRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH! Jack opened his mouth and out came flying a glut of…something…wait…someTHINGS.

"Heh. Sorry. Indigestion." Jack said, and actually wiped his "mouth" as what he had vomited up kept twitching…and squeaking.

"Oh please Pangloss, no." Gauntlet said, as he saw what had come out of Jack: a mass of yammering, trembling snowballs. With eyes. And sharp little teeth.

"Sorry people, but you should know…never try to kill a monster the same way it was done before!" Jack crowed, as the snowballs floated up. "SIC' 'EM!"

The Titan scattered as the mass of flying, carnivorous snowballs flew at them. Cyborg yelled as one zipped over and latched onto his metal hand, gnawing at his fingers. He grabbed for it, but the body was mushy and soft and hard to get a grip on, so he settled for running and slamming his hand against the wall. The snowball splattered…and then one chomped on his rear. Cyborg yelled and turned, slamming THAT part of his body against the wall, and then staggering away…and then the snowballs slurped off the wall, reformed, and attacked again, and he danced around screaming.

Gauntlet dove for the nearby couch and snatched up a cushion, putting it between himself and the hungry little ball. While the feathers flew he tossed it aside and rolled over to a spilled bowl of Cheetos. As a second ball flew at him he grabbed it, spun it upside down, and slammed it down on the snowball, trapping it on the floor as he reached and grabbed a heavy book that was normally used to prop up the couch to hold the bowl down. The bowl kept thrashing though, as he moved away from it…and then ran for his life as his cushion snacking friend and one of its brothers gave chase.

"Get behind me Star!" Robin said as the snowballs flew at him. "Whoooo…"

One ball zipped at him, and an expert slice of his staff splattered it. Another zipped at him and he spun and splattered that too…and the third…

Starfire backed away. Jack Frost seemed to have ceased his attack so he could watch his children play, his hands clasped and a look on his snowman face that could have been construed as fatherly pride…or as close an expression of fatherly pride that a snowman that looked like it was made of polystyrene could make.

And they were clearly his children, as Robin prepared to smack his forth attacker apart…and suddenly the first one was gnawing at his ankle. He yelled, and then screamed as the forth one sank it's teeth into his shoulder and the second one regenerated in time to fly up and chomp onto his side. Starfire shrieked and looked around for a weapon, any weapon…and then Gauntlet ran past her. She looked in his direction and screamed again as his own snowballs changed course and flew at her…and then something crashed into her back and she fell as Gauntlet replaced Starfire with the broken wreck of the TV that Terra had used against Ghostface. The three snowballs crashed right into it, and he hurled it away as they tried to find a way out.

"How do we kill these things?" he yelled.

"Shooting Jack did not work. Blowing him up did not work. Electrocuting him did not work…and dumping antifreeze on him certainly did not work…have you any ideas?" Starfire asked.

"Um…bananas?"

"BANANAS? Of all the ridiculous, no-brain ways to kill a monster…"

"It was the first thing that popped into my head!"

"Well, try again!"

"Well…uh…maybe we could lure them to the furnace?"

"We don't have a furnace!"

"Oh great, what were the contractors thinking…" Gauntlet muttered, and then he yelled and ran as the snowballs finally returned. Starfire rolled away, looking around for a weapon…

And then she saw it. Nearby was a closet where they kept cleaning supplies when they bothered to clean the kitchen and lounge up…and it included a mop bucket. And a huge sink to fill it up properly.

She had an idea.

And she better do it fast, because if she didn't, her friends were going to get torn apart by evil snowballs, and even THAT was too ridiculous a death for her.

* * *

"Um…Gamestation? No…dammit Vic, you don't strike me as the tricky password type! That's Noel's turf!" Beast Boy said.

"I heard that!" Raven yelled. Startled, Beast Boy realized the girls were mere feet from him: the zombies had pushed them back. If he didn't figure out the code soon, the zombies would push them away from the door, and unlike last time, there was no fire extinguisher to act as an anti-zombie projectile…

"Guys, I can't figure this damn password!" Beast Boy yelled.

"Did you try "password"?" Terra asked.

"What? What kind of a moron would…" Beast Boy said, even as his fingers keyed it in.

Ding!

And then the door opened up.

Raven ran past him before Beast Boy could wrap his head around the fact that the password had been…password.

"Stupid! So stupid!" he cursed to himself as he snatched up his axe and ran into the room.

"Just keep them off me for a few more seconds!" Raven yelled, as she continued her process of pulling apart the room. The orb was here: she could see the hole in the ceiling, but that just meant it was somewhere in the room, and Cyborg, like most bachelors, wasn't the neatest person.

Terra joined Beast Boy at the door as they tried to close it manually, but the damn zombies got in the way, and so they tried hacking at them with one arm while trying to keep the door closed with the others.

And even as she hunted, Raven was aware that outside the storm seemed to be returning: she could hear thunder and lightning. Well, at least they were inside…

* * *

Unfortunately, due to the little interruption of monsters and fiends and general nasties from hell, Raven had not learned something she might have found useful at the moment: there had indeed been a storm, which had triggered these events, but thunder and lightning could also signal another thing.

Chucky's voodoo spell.

_"Adedui Damballa…"_ Chucky chanted, his hand on Savior's forehead, even as the teen began to come groggily back of life. _"Verenchella Santaria Ouuu Ya Shungoo Yim Ya…_Give me the power, I beg of you!" Chucky yelled, and went back to chanting in Creole French, even as the clouds thundered and the spell began to take effect. Chucky could feel a strange sensation: he was looking down on the teen and then for a brief moment he was looking up on himself. He smiled wickedly and continued.

_"Le'veurre merci debeaux chaiom…_"

* * *

"Get off! Damn it! Fuck! Little monsters!" Cyborg yelled as he yanked and punched and clawed at the little ferocious creatures. But the things continued to hang on and gnaw at his metal body, and while it didn't hurt like it would a human…it still hurt.

Robin was worse off: he had body armor instead of a metal body and hence he didn't have the degree of protection, as he flipped over and squashed the two snowballs clinging to his back. He kipped up and ran, doing a flip as he whirled and fired off two Birdarangs to slice two more snowballs in half, but more came. Gauntlet was the smartest of the lot: he was utilizing the Saotome Desperation Move. For those who don't watch anime, that move was: run away until you think of a better plan.

And it was working until one of the snowballs zipped in and latched on his neck. Gauntlet immediately stopped and commenced trying to get it off. Despite his façade of a goof, Robert Candide knew plenty about life, and he knew that if this thing gnawed through his carotid artery, he would bleed to death in minutes, maybe even minute.

And Jack laughed, pleased in this little display of carnage.

And Starfire emerged from the closet.

"HEY!"

You'd think Jack would have learned by NOW, but he hadn't, and his snowballs followed his lead as they all briefly paused to look at Starfire.

Who KNEW she needed one hell of a hook. But she had it. Though she didn't like the fact that she had to do it. But that snowman-thing was clearly a pervert…and like fathers like sons.

"Why chew on THOSE things?" Starfire said, and then she grabbed her top and flipped it up.

Had it not been such a serious situation, Jack Frost's coal eyes shooting out on stalks of snow like in a Warner Brother's cartoon would have been comical.

"Are those REAL?" he asked.

And the snowballs apparently decided to answer his question, as they all peeled off their targets and went straight for Starfire as she pulled her top back down and ducked back into the closet.

"Don't be shy NOW, you tease! Hey! Wait for Daddy to get there!" Jack yelled as he headed for Starfire.

"Forget it you…!" Cyborg yelled before he was smashed through another wall by an extended ice mace hand.

But that gave the snowballs time to reach Starfire, their sharp little mouths slavering, as they all bunched up and dove it for a bite…

And Starfire held up the mop bucket.

Unable to stop, all the snowballs flew in.

And Starfire twisted the bucket upside down as she whirled and shoved it into the sinkful of boiling hot water she had drawn.

The water seared her hands and arms, and the process of shoving a semi-empty bucket into a sink full of water upside down was a task that required great strength, but Starfire was running on adrenaline. Screams erupted from the sink, but Starfire ignored them as she turned the bucket at a slight angle to ensure the entire container was filled, not one snowball escaping it as the boiling hot water melted them in seconds.

Even as Starfire twisted her arms and yanked out the plug in the sink.

"NO!" Jack Frost screamed as the water began to drain. And it was a very clean drain, which meant the water drained fast, even as his essence weakened and split apart, the snowball creatures becoming less like creatures and more like snow, and snow in hot water did one thing: melted and went down the drain.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Jack roared, and went for Starfire as she turned the sink emptying, as she drew back her arms, the orange tint now seared red.

"STARFIRE!" Robin yelled, and leapt for Jack Frost. The snowman thrust out an arm and a huge snow hand extended from it, grabbed Robin, and hurled him across the room. Gauntlet, not knowing what else to do, picked up a nearby chair leg and charged as well, but a shovel sized backhand sent him flying into a nearby hallway.

"I'll rend you into so many pieces no two parts will look alike." Jack snarled, ice fangs brimming at his mouth as he approached Starfire.

* * *

"Got IT!" Raven yelled, as she pulled the Orb of Archetypal from a pile of fast food containers.

And Beast Boy and Terra screamed as the door was shoved open and the zombies came pouring in. Terra took two huge swings before her sword got stuck in something and was yanked away. Backing up, Beast Boy continued to hack at the mass, even as Terra began grabbing everything she could find and using it as a weapon.

"Sorry Victor." She said as she grabbed his electric guitar and broke it over a zombie head. "Sorry Victor." She said again as she did the same with his personal DVD player.

And Raven realized she had a problem. The last time she had reversed the curse of the orb, she had been utilizing her demon side powers as well as a spell she had learned from the Melchior mess (And speaking of that, she still owed Noel a pounding for his reaction when he returned, the event having happened in his absence. His leave had come because the Shimmer was well known to have certain abilities when it came to human neurological systems, and a team of doctors had requested his aid to help separate a pair of conjoined twins attached at the head. He had left to do so, and though he didn't brag or take credit, the HIGHLY delicate nature of the operation meant a low chance of success. Noel had helped that low chance come through. Meanwhile, the Melchior thing happened, and Raven had spoken of it to him when he had gotten back. Savior had listened quietly during the whole story, and at the end he quietly commented "And a book speaking to you didn't give an indication that something was wrong in the first place?" Bastard. She should…). But this time she was on her own…and she didn't know if she could succeed.

"Well, I'm sure Einstein turned himself all kind of colors before he invented the light bulb…" Raven said, and began the spell.

* * *

And speaking of spells…

_"Cecieoux entie ami pourte morte."_ Chucky chanted, as the thunder boomed and lightning flashed. _"Mortiesse Me'Ludeveirre chordemie VAUCHIEI!"_

Savior was waking up, but he didn't know what was happening. His body ached, he couldn't move, and his perception kept distorting…

"GIVE ME THE POWER, I BEG OF YOU!" Chucky bellowed, and Savior, recognizing the line, realized just what was going on. He began to thrash, but the cocoon gun held him down. The weakest part of the guck was around his right arm, with Chucky standing on his opposite side, but his vision was blurring and…

Who cared, GET FREE!

Savior began to thrash, his right arm loosening, but Chucky paid it no mind. Even if it did get free, he could just step back, and the spell was almost done, and then…it was playtime.

_"A'DELE POURTE QUESAI DAMBALLA!"_ Chucky shrieked, as wind began blowing at his hair…

* * *

"That which you took unwillingly, you shall give back willingly. _Aigogij Winajuuygy Bugyatorthcaw…_that which you stole you now return…"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Beast Boy screamed as he lost his footing, and the zombies fell on him.

* * *

"Nowhere to run whore!" Jack snarled as he closed in.

* * *

_"A'DELE POURTE QUESAI DAMBALLA!"_

* * *

"That which is lost…._Iuhguyqbuy Pou Yguyin Mijhu_…I command thee to return…by the power within me I defy your punishment…return! RETURN! **_RETURN!"_**

* * *

"I don't know why you did what you did, but then again, maybe I do…" Jack Frost said. He was now standing right in front of Starfire, who had not tried to run. She might die now, but she wasn't going to die a coward. "I mean, what kind of chance could you stand against me?"

Jack brought up his arms as ice formed in cruel shapes. Had certain other horror villains been around, and seen what shapes Jack had formed his arms into, they might have offered him a job.

"What chance?" he asked again.

And then a ripple zipped across the room, flowing over Jack. He seemed to notice it, barely, and he arched a twig eyebrow.

And then he looked at Starfire.

Whose eyes were glowing green.

As she shoved her right hand into his chest.

"A snowball's chance in hell." Starfire replied.

And she unleashed every bit of stored up rage, disgust, and fear she had been swallowing to prevent from running, even as she willed her newly repowered body to focus it a certain way, and Jack opened his mouth and let out a cut off scream as Starfire did not so much fire a Starbolt as she detonated one directly in the core of his being, a Starbolt of intense heat that fired out, scorching the walls, melting nearby plastic containers, setting the wallpaper on fire, and disintegrating Jack Frost into vapor and straight out of existence.

Silence.

Starfire lowered her arm. She was vaguely aware of the others getting up, new strength filling them, and looking at her.

"Is it dead?" Cyborg asked.

Starfire smiled contently.

"Terminated."

* * *

The zombies suddenly exploded from the ground, thrown back and away by an intense force…a green rhinoceros.

Even the zombies seemed shocked, as Beast Boy whirled, stomping and smashing apart everything around him, and then returning to human form.

Even as Terra opened her eyes, a golden yellow glow now infused in them.

"Hello boys." She said, as she raised her arms. From the floor, seven long shards of rock tore through, floating up before her. "Ready to rock?"

* * *

Rotted teeth leaned down to sample this strange being…

And then twin claws reared up and clamped on the zombie's face, simultaneously crushing and shoving the head down as the clawed hand squashed the cranium straight down into the upper torso. A slashing kick with clawed toes caught the second attacker and sliced it into two pieces at upper chest level.

As the clawed hand snatch up a nearby glaive.

* * *

_"A'DELE POURTE QUESAI DAMBALLA!"_ Chucky bellowed. "_A'DELE POUR…"_

And Savior's eyes snapped wide open, even as his right arm spasmed, and with a sudden great burst of strength it was free, as a white line shot from the palm, and Chucky stopped the spell right then and there as his eyes widened as his jaw dropped, even as the line lanced and coiled out, searching for something, anything…and finding it, and bringing it back…

"What the hell?" Chucky said.

As the Shimmer returned to Savior's hand…bringing with it the Welder's blowtorch.

"Pretty much." Savior replied.

And he turned the torch on right into Chucky's face.

Chucky's screech of pain filled the entire room as the intense flame shot out and lanced straight into his face, igniting his hair even as it seared and melted away the plastic of his features. Shrieking at the top of his lungs he staggered away, clawing at his flaming head, drops of liquid plastic falling next to him, as Savior dropped the blowtorch. Shimmer strands tore through the cocoon and threw it off him.

"YOUUUUUUU FUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!" Chucky screamed as he managed to get the fire out. His hair was mostly gone, his scalp and most of his face scorched black, pink plastic melted away to expose blackened undercoating and wires, his right eye melted nearly shut, his cheek hanging open with teeth exposed, even as his still remaining eye rolled and he screamed in pain and rage.

And he pulled out his knife and charged, swinging it up…

And the Shimmer intercepted him, the line lashing out in a bladed end that caught Chucky's right hand and carved into it, slicing all the way to the middle of his forearm. Chucky howled in agony, the knife dropping as the arm flopped into two hanging parts, blood dripping from the mauled limb.

Within the wound Savior could see more wires. Charles Lee Ray's curse. Trapped in a doll, stuck between humanity and death, in a form that seemed so weak and yet would not allow him human mercies like shock or fainting to escape the pain. He had to bear it all.

It didn't raise an ounce of sympathy in Savior.

"Still want my body, Ken?" Savior asked.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!" Chucky howled, as he snatched up the knife with his other hand.

The Shimmer lashed out, this time striking Chucky like a whip, throwing him into the air even as it walloped him with great impact. Savior saw one of the parts of Chucky's arm go flying off even as Chucky screamed, all the way, until he hit the wall with a mighty impact and fell to the ground.

Savior formed a brace for his ankle even as the Shimmer flowed out from his right hand and formed a blade. As tough as Chucky could be, there was one surefire to kill him: pierce his heart.

"Come on Chucky…" Savior said as he walked over. "I know you don't like these little experiences. Why don't you give it up? After all, you ALWAYS come back…" Savior said, as he turned around where Chucky had fallen.

And found him gone. All that was left was the remaining half of his mangled arm.

Savior snorted.

And then Chucky leapt on his back. Somehow the doll had snuck up behind him and managed to get on a crate without him realizing it.

And he was mad as hell, screaming and shrieking as he slashed at Savior's neck. Savior twisted and the knife barely missed his jugular, instead nicking the back of his neck. Shimmer strands shot up to protect its host, but Chucky got lucky and slashed through one, and Savior fell to his knees with a muffled scream. Chucky reared back, and then plunged his knife straight through the small hole his laser gun shot had made, causing Savior to scream again as he twisted the knife. Chucky shrieked once more in insane rage and pain as he yanked the knife out and brought it down towards Savior's spine…and then Savior was rearing back up, his hand reaching around and grabbing Chucky by his overalls as he yanked him off his back and hurled him through the air. Chucky yelled the whole way as he smashed into another metal crate.

Savior stared as his body fell, spasmed, and then got back up. Somehow, he had held onto the knife, and even with rags of his right arm hanging off and his face scorched and melted into a demonic fright mask he came at Savior.

Whose eyes had spied something else.

"There comes a time, for a man, to put childish things away…" Savior said as he reached over, even as Chucky screamed once more.

As Savior pulled out one of Killjoy's handguns.

"So stay put."

The first bullet blew off Chucky's right leg. The second careened off his skull and sent blackened bits of plastic flying, and the third shot aimed true, striking Chucky in the chest and blowing him backwards in a spray of blood and one final shriek.

And then he landed, and he did not move.

A pause, and then Savior realized he had been holding his breath. He let it out slowly.

"Robin wasn't kidding…" he remarked, as he got up, wincing as his wounds reminded him of their presence. "But at least…our powers seem to be back…in some capacity…"

Savior used some of the Shimmer to form stitches for his cuts and a brace for his leg, and then he walked over to his communicator, which had fallen off him at some point. Maybe…

"Savior here. Anyone respond?" Savior asked the communicator. But just like last time, all he got was static. "Damn. Anyone here, respond!"

Static.

"Fuck. I guess I'll have to go look for them." Savior said, and turned and limped for the door.

And then Chucky leapt through the air, screaming a sound you didn't think could be made by a human throat, his knife flashing, his lone eye ablaze with madness and rage, as he pushed off the crate and leapt at Noel…

And the Shimmer shot out, grabbing up the last part of the Killjoy exhibit: his repaired shotgun, as it brought the gun to Savior's hand and braced it for the backlash as Savior turned and aimed.

"Fuck off, Chuck."

The shotgun blew Chucky into pieces, scattering him across the entire evidence room. There was no scream for this, even as his head hit the ground and rolled over to the door.

Savior snorted, checked the gun, and found that the only shells that had been in it, he had just used. He tossed it aside and started for the door again, looking at the blackened head as he went.

"Hi." It suddenly said. "I'm Chucky. Want to playyyyyyyyyy…"

Savior's foot slammed down on the head, crunching it underfoot. He ground his heel a few times to be sure and then stepped off the finally dead monster.

"I guess, in the end Chucky, you wish it was only make believe." Savior said, and headed out of the evidence room.


	8. Seven Year's Bad Luck

Part 8: Seven Year's Bad Luck

"You're sure he's dead?" Cyborg asked.

"As sure as I can be when it comes to killing badly designed snowman monsters from terrible horror films." Starfire replied, as Robin finished bandaging up her forearms. Now that the curse on the Titans had been broken, she was feeling the injury a lot less then she would have a few minutes ago (after all, it was a heat injury, and as Starfire had just recently demonstrated, she could generate a IMMENSE amount of heat if she wanted. Not only had Jack Frost's snowman body been vaporized, she had reduced his twigs, coal, carrot, and scarf to dead ash as well), but it was still highly uncomfortable, and Robin was playing dutiful boyfriend as he bandaged her up.

"It would make some sense, if we can wrap our heads around the weirdo ways horror movies break the laws of physics. As snow, Jack could reform himself, and even melted he could regather and refreeze his body. But the key part of being solid and liquid is that in that state matter tends to stay roughly in the same place, so if there was a malicious sentience commanding it to gather back together, it could be done. But vapor isn't like that. It tends to dissipate very quickly…enough so that when Starfire blew her heat blast, it fell apart enough so that Jack couldn't bring himself back together."

"Until the next sequel." Gauntlet commented, as he finished examining his neck to make sure it wasn't going to suddenly sprout an unpluggable hole.

"Right, so let's make sure the grosses are nonexistent, if you catch my drift." Robin said, standing up.

"How are you Robin?" Cyborg asked, looking at their battered leader, his outfit torn up and crusted with blood.

"Flesh wounds mostly. I'll live. How about you? Raven seems to have broken the spell."

"That's right. BABY!" Gauntlet yelled as his ring flowed out into the trademark artifact shape. He began kissing it. "Never go away again! Never ever…hey!"

"What?" Robin said, turning towards the teen.

"What gives?" Gauntlet said. Robin had to look for a few seconds in order to see what had bothered the Titan: the Gauntlet, when it normally extended into "battle mode", covered Rob's entire arm. But this time, the Gauntlet only went about halfway up his forearm. "Hey, you already had a coffee break! You need to finish the job! My name isn't Glove!"

"It's not your artifact Gauntlet, it's us." Cyborg said as he looked at a screen that had popped open on his arm, his gadgets functioning again. "My power readings are only at a third of their normal level. I think that while the spell was broken, it wasn't fully broken."

"WHAT? No way! I AM GAUNTLET! NOT GLOVE!"

"Be CALM Friend Rob, and be grateful that we now have some powers instead of no powers at all. I doubt our evening is finished yet." Starfire said, as she flexed her fingers. The burned skin ached slightly, but she could handle it.

"Some good news. My power cells may only be at a third, but they're slowly going up. Looks like if we can tough it out, our powers will be fully restored. Look Rob, I think your gauntlet moved up another inch."

"It did?" Gauntlet said, examining his magical weapon. He focused, and the yellow energy that the weapon generated emerged, flowing out. Gauntlet began forming it into random shapes to see how it was, while Robin once again tried the communicator. And once again, they got static.

"What do we do now Fearless?" Cyborg asked Robin.

"We must find our friends. And hope that none of them were…" Starfire said, her eyes become afraid again as she pondered the possible fates of the five missing Titans.

"Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater Kory. They're tough, and just as quick on their feet as we are. We've survived this long for a reason." Robin said, as he put away his communicator and checked the weapon stores in his utility belt. He was almost completely out, and he didn't much cotton to heading down to his room to replace what he had lost.

"Victor's right. My weapon isn't functioning at optimum strength or resilience…but it's better then nothing." Gauntlet said. "Well, on the bright side, at least we have a brief break. Nice work on Jack Starfire. You iced that guy!"

"Yes I did!" Starfire giggled.

"Really creamed him!"

"Rob…" Robin warned.

"To "cone" a phrase."

The three Titans glared at Gauntlet.

"Right, stopping now."

"That would be a good idea Mr. Powers." Robin commented. "Ok, we have to find the others, but we are NOT splitting up."

"Hell no." Cyborg said, as his arm reformed into his sonic cannon. "So where do we go first?"

"I don't know." Robin said, stroking his chin. "I guess a floor by floor sweep would be best. Hopefully we'll run into the others…" _Or god forbid, what's left of them._

"How do we go about that?"

"Gauntlet, with your shield back, you and Victor are the most resilient. You take the lead. Starfire and I will bring up the rear."

"Got it." Gauntlet said, as he flexed his armored fist and the yellow energy flowed out into a blobby shaped orb. Assumingly, Gauntlet would hit whatever came after him with it.

"Ok…" Robin said. "Let's not falter here. Best to put this thing to bed."

"All right." Gauntlet said.

"We'll do that." Cyborg added.

And the two began moving away from Robin, who had knelt and was examining something, Starfire watching him, as the two others headed for the hallway.

A pity for the Titans: there was more going on here then even THEY knew. Horror films had a bastion of clichés and foolishness that always seemed to be followed, no matter the situation. And one of those was that despite the benefit of numbers, people ALWAYS went off alone or in pairs.

In the act that had triggered this scenario, the Titans had been thrust into a world where these rules, much like gravity, HAD to be obeyed. It had been demonstrated before, when Robin had suggested the original splitting up, when in a normal situation he would have not ordered that. But at the time, he thought it was a good idea…because that's the way things happened.

And whatever malignant force lurking in the shadows of these films was going to make sure it did.

For you see, Gauntlet and Cyborg had not heard Robin say "Let's not falter here. Best to put this thing to bed."

They had heard. "I need some water here. Best for you guys to go ahead."

And despite Robin's previous warning about splitting up, they had agreed, without considering that it might be a bad idea in the slightest. Because that was the way things were done.

Even so, maybe Robin might have noticed the subtle amount of brainwashing going on by Cyborg and Gauntlet's reply. But he didn't. And not because he had suddenly developed a fascination with a speck of blood on the ground, with a vague fading idea it could help them find their friends.

Actually…not just because of that.

It was because that despite his ears working fine, and Cyborg and Gauntlet speaking aloud…he hadn't heard them at all.

Neither had Starfire.

Even with superpowers and combat training and the oh so lacking virtue of common sense…things just had to go certain ways.

Which is why when Robin got up and turned around, he was shocked that Cyborg and Gauntlet were gone.

* * *

"I don't feel so good." Beast Boy said from where he was sitting on Cyborg's "bed."

"What do you mean?" Terra asked, as she watched the remains of the zombies fade away into nothingness. Though she didn't realize it, she felt it too: a slight exhaustion that should not have been present.

"I couldn't undo the spell fully." Raven said, as she finished healing Beast Boy, gritting her teeth for a bit as his pain entered her body. But she had been doing this a long time, and she quickly shoved the pain down, sealed it in a box, and threw away the key. She'd deal with it later. "The last time, after we beat Mumbo, I was using my powers to aid the undoing. I didn't have my powers this time, so the undoing was…incomplete."

"That would explain why I feel tired. This is how I felt when I was first testing out my powers and wasn't used to the feelings of instant molecular reconfiguration." Beast Boy said. The two women looked at him. "I do know some big words you know!"

"Come to think of it, I don't exactly feel in tip top shape, but I thought it was due to my injuries…" Terra said.

"Speaking of which, Terra, come over here so I can heal you before you come down the adrenaline rush and start FEELING those wounds." Raven said. Terra listened, and twenty seconds later she was joining Beast Boy in peeling off her bandages while Raven rested on Cyborg's bed/recharger/something or other.

"So…is this permanent?" Terra asked.

"Shouldn't be. I couldn't bring our powers back full bore, but I'm good at spells. What time is it?"

"Uh…10:37." Beast Boy said, checking Cyborg's clock.

"We should be back at full power at midnight, at the latest. So it might be best if we avoid confrontation if we can. Trying to utilize our powers at full capacity in these states could be worse then actually not having powers."

"I don't see how that's possible." Beast Boy said, as he rotated his freshly fixed shoulder, glad to have both his arms working again.

"Man, I was worried I'd have permanent…"

A loud roar suddenly rang through the room, and Beast Boy and Raven jumped, and then were at the ready as a tiger and with black power glowing respectively.

"Which one was that?" Raven asked her green companion.

"None of them. That was Nigel. It appears he's feeling more chipper and rather proud of something. Let's hope that something was the maiming of another slasher. One less for us to deal with. Which reminds me Gar: just how many movies were in that pile?"

"What? Oh…I don't know…but I'll try to remember…" Beast Boy said, as he returned to human. Raven floated back down to the "bed", annoyed at how the little act of preparing for combat had made her feel like she had just run a mile.

"How hard can it be to remember how many horror films you put on the VCR?" Raven asked, a bit terser then she intended.

"Excuse me Rae, but it's not like we go around documenting every minute of our lives. I mean, what time did you go to bed last night? What was the last page of the book you just read? What was the last spice you tried? Unlike Cyborg, we can't document our every occurrence. We were having all that silly fighting! People were taking the movies out of my hands, putting new ones in, switching…besides one or two, I can't be sure what was in the pile…"

"Hello? Anyone there?"

The voice startled the Titans, before they realized it was coming from Raven. And it was familiar.

"Noel!" Raven said, snatching up her communicator. "Are you ok?"

"Depends on your definition of ok." Came the reply.

"No…Savior, there's, uh…"

"Horror movies come to life?"

"Yes! You found out?"

"The hard way. I had a run in with the star of the film you and I should have been eating popcorn to: Chucky. Tough little bastard."

"Are you badly hurt?"

"I'm hurting, but I'll live. I'm better then Chucky anyway: we won't have to be worrying about him any time soon. Or ever."

"Hold it!" Beast Boy said as he snatched the communicator. "Savior, I've seen those films too! Chucky can take over people's bodies! Prove you're not Chucky in Savior's body."

"One night you got drunk and crawled into my bed. I never told anyone the things you said in your sleep."

Beast Boy blushed furiously as Terra and Raven gave him the looks of people who just found out embarrassing secrets about their friends. Raven grabbed the communicator back.

"Pray tell, why did you stick around to hear what he said?"

"Because he had turned into a komodo dragon in his sleep, and Beast Boy sleeps like the dead, so I couldn't wake him up, and I damn well wasn't going to leave him alone in my room. He sheds you know."

"HEY!"

"IT'S ME. I say we have to worry more about the others. In fact, I'm amazed that our communication hasn't been broken off yet. So quickly, what do we do?"

"We need to meet up, as soon as possible." Raven replied.

"I know. Where?"

"I'll…"

And then, suddenly, the picture cut out. There was no warning static this time: it just broke off completely.

"Oh no!" Raven said, as she, hoping against hope, fiddled with the communicator. But she could not resume the communiqué with her long time lover, and eventually she had to put it away.

"We need to regroup. Fast. Come on guys." Raven said, as she got off the bed.

"Can you teleport?" Beast Boy asked. Raven closed her eyes as she did an inner reflection.

"I don't think so. Not for at least twenty minutes. It's hard to do you know."

"All right, we'll find them the old fashioned way." Beast Boy said. "What about the Orb of Archetypal?"

Raven walked over to the fallen orb, picked it up, and then threw it back down, smashing it into pieces.

"That's what." Raven said, nodding with satisfaction.

And so the three of them left the room, Raven and Beast Boy in the front, Terra trailing behind them slightly, her zombie killer rocks tied in a bag at her side. With her lessened powers, she didn't want to waste time summoning more ammo. At least she was healed…

And then she realized.

"Guys! Scalpel!" she said. Raven and Beast Boy stopped, turning their heads towards Terra. "Should we go get him?"

"I don't know…" Raven said, as she turned her head back the way it had been facing before, Beast Boy following the movement. "We need to move quickly, and I doubt Scalpel will just stay in one place…and going out of our way might just cause us to walk into the trap of another slasher…"

"AHHH!" Beast Boy suddenly shrieked, and Raven whirled. She quickly saw why he had made that sound: she was looking at the same thing that caused him to make it.

Terra was gone.

"Where did she…" Raven began, and then her eyes flicked down the hallway. Much like the hallway outside the evidence room, where Raven and Beast Boy were currently standing was at the nexus of a T-shaped junction.

And at the end of that T, she could see Terra disappearing around the corner.

"TERRA! WAIT!" Beast Boy yelled, running after the blonde.

"What the hell is that damn fool doing?" Raven cursed as she followed, saving her energy by running instead of flying.

It wouldn't have done her any good anyway, for when the two turned the corner, Terra wasn't there. She had vanished into thin air.

"Where did she go? Where did she go?" Beast Boy asked, his hands and feet moving frantically.

"And WHY did she go off like that?" Raven asked.

The two Titans didn't know, but we do, dear readers.

For you see, it had happened again. Terra hadn't heard what Raven had really said. She had heard something different.

Specifically, "We should go, and it should be quickly…"

So Terra had taken the initiative and dashed off in the direction that she knew would take them to the infirmary, tossing a call over her shoulder to follow.

Which the other two hadn't heard.

And by the time Terra realized her friends weren't behind her, she had left them a fair distance away.

She was alone again.

* * *

Scalpel lowered his head, having given vent to his Blacktrinian instincts: after he had returned all the zombies to the realm of the dead he had thrown back his head and roared. And pretty damn loud: the whole tower had probably heard him.

"Ahhhhh…" Scalpel said, as he lowered the glaive and looked at the twitching mess that covered the infirmary, which had been a few moments ago an army from hell intent on devouring him and was now nothing more then scattered tissue. "What is that Earth phrase? Oh yes…DO NOT, **_FUCK_**, WITH ME."

Scalpel rolled his neck back and forth, making loud cracking noises that would have disturbed the other Titans if they had been present. He rolled his shoulders and did a few quick knee bends as well as he assessed himself. His Blacktrinianness seemed to have reasserted itself: he could move freely again and his Blacktrinian body was again dealing with his fatal-as-a-human chest wound. And he could wield his glaive again.

That wasn't good enough though. Because god knew where the other Titans were, or what else was in the tower. And with communications not working at all (well, sporadically, but Scalpel hadn't been around for any of that), he'd have to go hunting for them.

And he could run into something else during the course of that hunt. And he wanted to be ready: he didn't quite feel at 100. Destroying those zombies should not have taxed him. Maybe when he had first arrived on earth, but not now. There was probably something up, but he could live with that…if he was provided with ample compensation. Fortunately, such compensation was right next door.

So Scalpel headed out of the infirmary, not even noticing as the zombie mess faded away and disappeared, as he headed into his room to arm himself for war.

While he did so, he thought of Sophie, his human lover. She was supposed to be part of this movie night as well, but at the last second she had had to work the night shift, and since lots of people had covered for her in the past, she felt she really didn't have a right to refuse. Scalpel had been upset, but now he was glad: she was safe from this insanity. Had she been here, she would have been very vulnerable, even more so then the depowered Titans, because unlike them she didn't have years of combat training and experience to fall back on if they did lose their abilities. So, for the moment, she was safe.

Now Scalpel just had to make sure that he followed suit. And his friends and teammates. And failing that…any monster from the world of fiction would know for a fact that his wrath was something even THEY did not want to trifle with.

As he stood up, loaded to the brim with Blacktrinian weaponry, took a step…and fell flat on his face.

"_Qurtes."_ He muttered. He had forgotten that while mobile and combat ready, he wasn't at his full strength yet, and hence he couldn't carry so much gear. He dropped what he could, got up, and began removing what he couldn't carry. Which was a lot more then he liked. In the end he had to settle for swapping out his usual glaive with another one, which was bladed on both ends instead of just the one (even though the additional blade was just a thin round javelin-esque skewer, but hey, you never know when you might need a thin, round javelin-esque skewer). To that he added the Blacktrinian equivalent of a sword and a few knives.

And if those didn't work, he made sure that he made use of his Ylental, a special blade attached to a base that let him sharpen his claws. And Scalpel did so to a fine point: surgical lasers couldn't have done a better job.

Even if he was disarmed, anything that came after him was going to find out the hard way that he wasn't UNARMED.

* * *

"Goddammit, not again." Savior cursed as he put his communicator away. He was beginning to suspect that something was playing with him and his fellows, allowing these scattered communications instead of no communications at all as some kind of joke. Savior wasn't much amused though.

"Great. All right then…" Savior said, as he started walking again: he had used a small part of the Shimmer to form an elaborate brace so he could walk normally on his wounded ankle. The rest of his injuries weren't much of a problem: Savior had been a Titan for several years and had learned his talent inside and out. It regenerated nerve tissue, so he didn't have to worry about that, and it provided a handy material for stitches or splints if he needed them. All the same, he'd feel better when he found Raven and she could fix him up. He wanted to be at full capacity for whatever he ran into next.

And that was what he was pondering now. Now that he had accepted that something had brought horror films to life, Savior moved on to the problem of WHICH films. And without knowing the exact details, Savior had been pondering strategies for EVERY horror villain he knew. And due to a good memory and more then a few bouts with insomnia, Savior knew quite a bit.

But, as he carefully stepped into the room he was entering, looking for any possible threat, he was about to find out he didn't know enough.

The T-Tower had been converted from Cyborg's late father's laboratories, and the design hadn't changed much when it had been rebuilt after the Lord razed it. As a laboratory, every room had some use, but for superheroes, that wasn't the case, and there tended to be more then a few rooms that had some furniture in it but really served no purpose at all, or were hardly used. This was one of those rooms: it was at the edge of the Tower, so Savior could see out into the night (the storm seemed to have moved on), a dusty couch, a cabinet, a small kitchenette, a few tables and chairs…and a pot of what looked like gold coins sitting on one of the tables.

Savior blinked.

The pot was still there.

Savior swept the room. It appeared to be empty. Slowly, he stepped up to the pot, waiting, waiting…and nothing came.

So Savior looked at the pot. It was a classic black iron one, small sized but just like the ones used for witch's stereotypes…and it appeared to be filled with gold coins. It wasn't just gold coins: there appeared to be some other jewelries and such mixed in, but mostly it was gold coins.

"Ok…." Savior said. He used the Shimmer to poke the pot to see if it was bobby trapped. Nothing happened, so Savior reached out and picked up one of the coins. He bit it to make one last check, and then pulled it away, cocking his head as he looked at it.

"What the hell is this?"

"MINE!"

And the club slammed onto his right foot.

"OW!!!!!!!!!!!!" Savior yelled, caught totally off guard despite his best intentions, as he reared back and actually started to lift up his foot, as if to grab it and hop up and down like people did in movies and cartoons. Whether he would have or not was lost to time though, as whatever had smashed him on his foot followed it by hitting him behind his left knee, causing to him fall down, crashing into the side of the counter.

"It's not wise to touch me gold, young one!" said the creature that had knocked Savior down, and for the second time, he couldn't believe his eyes.

This time he was looking at a dwarfish creature dressed from head to foot in dark green: hat, vest, jacket, and pants, with green and white socks and black shoes with gold buckles. If the creature's big mouth and evil looking eyes didn't give you the proper idea of what kind of person he was, the face would: it was horrifically gnarled, ancient, as knotted and twisted as a centuries old tree. He could use a facelift and a haircut. The voice that came from the creature as it chastised Savior, waving a small wooden stick/club that Savior had assumed was the whacking/tripping tool, was a thick Irish brogue.

"What the devil are YOU?"

"Why, I'm a leprechaun! And you're a dirty thief!" The Leprechaun said. "You tried to steal me gold, so now I'm giving you some grief!"

"I didn't…oh." Savior said, as he noted that despite his pain, he hadn't dropped the gold coin he had been examining. Inwardly, he rolled his eyes: what was going on? He had expected someone truly dangerous, like Pinhead or the Tall Man. And instead he got…an evil leprechaun? Savior didn't know what kind of films had been brought to life, but apparently whoever had arranged that weirdness had a sick sense of humor.

"I don't suppose you'd believe I was just examining the coin and had no intention of taking it." Savior said, ready to move, counter, fight back, or whatever was necessary.

"You think I'll believe that? You thieves are all bad liars! You dared to touch me gold! Now you will perish from my ire!" The Leprechaun snapped, and charged at Savior, swinging up his cane.

A Shimmer line snapped out, catching the Leprechaun on his feet and sending him falling forward. Savior grabbed him by the front of his jacket.

"Now we're even." Savior snapped, and punched the Leprechaun in the face. He yelled and staggered back, as Savior rolled away and flipped to his feet…and hissed as the Shimmer didn't properly compensate for the impact of the flip and a huge bolt of pain shot up his leg, the limb buckling and only the Shimmer keeping Savior from falling down.

"Fuck." Savior cursed, as he tried to keep his vision clear for the Leprechaun, who was getting up while swearing in some ancient language. "I wish my ankle wasn't injured."

And then Savior felt a strange tingling, and then much to his surprise, the pain in his ankle vanished entirely. He blinked, and then looked down in surprise.

His ankle was fine, perfectly healed.

"What now?"

"NO!" The Leprechaun suddenly yelled, and Savior looked at the angry goblin. "ME GOLD! YOU TAINTED ME GOLD!"

"I what now?" Savior said, and realized that he was STILL holding the coin. He looked at it and found that its shine seemed to have dulled, the special glow it possessed gone.

And then he remembered (and thank Beast Boy for that), that if you took a coin from the Leprechaun's gold, you would be granted one wish per coin. But the Leprechaun wouldn't let you live it down…

"Um…sorry?" Savior asked.

"You lie and steal and cause me great pain! But I'll have the last laugh and paint the wall with your brains!" The Leprechaun yelled, and then suddenly the nearby chair floated up and flew at Savior's head.

The Shimmer tore it to pieces before it struck. The Leprechaun looked surprised.

"Wait, that's not supposed to happen!"

"You'd be surprised." Savior said, as he turned the gold coin over in his hand. "Here."

Savior flipped the Leprechaun the coin.

The demonic elf scrambled forward to catch it.

And the Shimmer lashed out, grabbing the Leprechaun by the neck as he reached up to grab his coin.

"What? Bloody trai…!"

The sound of the Leprechaun's neck breaking as Savior twisted his head 180 degrees was louder then Noel expected. Savior let go as the body fell to the ground.

"Despite what Gordon Gecko may say, greed is not good." Savior said. He walked over to the table, picked up the pot of gold, and placed it next to the Leprechaun's prone body.

"There. Now what good does it do you?"

"Noel!"

Savior lifted his head at the voice. Raven was standing at the door, and she looked very glad to see him.

"Oh Noel! Thank god you're alive!" Raven said, as she raised her arms and ran for her love. Savior gave himself a small personal smile and got up to meet his love, though he didn't run.

The two headed for each other.

And it suddenly occurred to Savior: Raven, even in crisis, wasn't really for big shows of affection like this one. So why was she running…and why was she referring to him via his real name after so many years of training to only use codenames in the field…

Raven's form rippled, and Savior dove to the side in the nick of time before the spray of knives cut him to pieces, the deadly weapons flying past him. Savior rolled back up, feeling a chill go through his form as he heard the laughter, and he turned as the Leprechaun stood up, his graspy hands, ending in long, grown out, sharp fingernails, grabbing his backwards head and snapping it back into place.

"Ohhhh. Got the crick that's been bothering me since 1789 out, me lad." The Leprechaun said. "Not bad. Few have seen through my illusions, but don't think that's earned you respite. You have stolen a leprechaun's gold, and for that you die tonight!"

"Why do the small ones have to be so stubborn and irritating?" Savior asked.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALL?" The Leprechaun yelled, and inside the kitchenette the gas burners suddenly turned on…and then the kitchenette exploded, throwing Savior to the side. He tumbled a few times, then came to a rest, then yelped and ducked out of the way as the Leprechaun ran up and swung his cane down. Savior saved himself a braining by snapping his head away and then spinning up, his foot slamming out and kicking the Leprechaun in the side of the head. The elf cursed at him, and then his cane suddenly extended and grew sharp, aiming for Savior's face. Savior dodged that, but the Leprechaun didn't dodge his counter, as the Shimmer fired back, twin lines piercing through the Leprechaun's chest and exploding out his back in a mist of fine blood. Savior held on and threw the Leprechaun into the still flaming kitchenette with a furious yell, and then further screams as another explosion shook the area.

Savior snorted as the fire systems finally turned on, sprinklers dousing the flames and leaving nothing but smoke within fifteen seconds. Wiping chemicals from his wet hair, Savior headed over to the kitchenette, Shimmer at the ready if the Leprechaun still had any life left in him.

But there was nothing in the kitchenette but scorched kitchen stuff.

"……Ok. See you on the cereal box, shorty." Savior commented, and turned to leave.

And the Leprechaun reappeared from his cloak of invisibility and leapt over the counter and onto Savior's back.

"YOU SHALL REGRET CALLING ME SHORT!" The Leprechaun snarled as he sank his teeth into Savior's shoulder. Savior yelled in surprise and pain and stumbled around as the Leprechaun bit and clawed at his shoulder and face.

"You should learn it's not the size that matters, but how you use it!" The Leprechaun snapped as the two continued to dance around the room, the Leprechaun clinging tenaciously to Savior's back. With shaking not working, Savior switched directions.

"Hey, what you doing you stupid lad…!" The Leprechaun's question was cut off as Savior rammed his back into the wall, squashing the Leprechaun between himself and said wall with a muffled complaint.

"In my day people knew how to treat their elders!" The Leprechaun said as Savior staggered forward, the satanic elf still clinging to Savior's back.

So Savior rammed himself into the wall even harder.

"You will learn respect!" The Leprechaun yelled as his filthy, sharp fingernails dug into Savior's ear. Savior finally gave up on banging and just thrust his body down, the Leprechaun falling over his head, as Savior reached up his arms, grabbing whatever he could, and throwing the Leprechaun off his back and onto the floor with a loud thud.

Gasping for air, Savior staggered back, as the Leprechaun looked up, a wicked gleam in his eye.

And a chair suddenly slid across the floor so it was right behind Savior.

Savior tripped over the sudden obstacle and completely lost his balance, the Shimmer flailing around as Savior stumbled mightily towards the window, unable to regain his equilibrium…

"Eh, may as well be certain." The Leprechaun said, and waved his hand. A shockwave of force slammed into Savior, giving him one final and very potent push…

That sent him smashing right out the window.

For a moment he hung there, among the shards of glass, and then as he started falling his instincts kicked it and the Shimmer lashed out, grabbing a hold as Savior swung himself inward, getting away from the deadly rain of glass before it cut him to pieces, even as he nearly crashed through the window on the lower floor.

It probably would have been better if he had though, for the Shimmer hadn't been able to grab a firm handhold. In fact, it had barely grabbed a handhold at all, and Savior's severe swinging angle was all it took for the footing to break.

Savior found himself in freefall again, and the Shimmer instinctively reached out to seize another grip.

It did.

At the wrong angle.

Which caused Savior to suddenly flip upside down, and before he could correct himself he had swung into the Tower again, the back of his head slamming into the wall and knocking him clean out.

Deprived of its orders-giving host, the Shimmer attempted two more grabs on its own, but it didn't have the wherewithal to do it properly, and it didn't bleed off enough speed before Savior slammed into the bushes around the Tower's base.

He did not come out.

His wounds already healing up, the Leprechaun walked to the broken window and peered down on the human wreckage. He chuckled.

"Next time lad, I suggest you take the elevator."

* * *

"Something is wrong here Robin." Starfire said, once again stroking her upper arms with her hands as if she was trying to ward off a chill.

"I gathered. What were those morons thinking running off when I SAID not to…"

"I do not think they disobeyed your orders Robin. I just think…they had no choice…" Starfire said.

Robin turned and looked at Starfire, about to say something, and then stopping as he thought it over. He remembered how he had give the original order to split up and then realized later that really wasn't the best thing to do. Considering all they had seen, it was clear it wasn't just the horror villains that had come to life. Their atmosphere, as noted by the flickering lights, was here as well. Did that mean…

"We must hurry Robin. We must find our friends, even if that means we leave Cyborg and Gauntlet behind. Chasing them might be what it wants to happen, so that…"

The sound of footsteps.

Starfire's hands were alight and Robin had a Birdarang armed by the time they turned to face the noise.

"AHHHHHH!" Terra yelled, waving her hands.

"Terra!" Robin said, putting away the weapon. "You're all right!"

"Oh thank god I found you guys, I didn't want to be alone…" Terra said, rushing forward. Robin was greatly surprised when she threw herself at him for a hug. Starfire just looked irritated.

"Terra…what happened to you?" the alien asked tersely.

"Well…I assume you know what's happening." Terra said.

"Yeah."

"I was with Raven and Beast Boy, but they said to do something and I ran off, expecting them to be behind me…"

"Except they weren't." Robin finished. "We just lost Cyborg and Gauntlet to that. SOMETHING appears to want to keep us apart."

"Well I'm not leaving anyone again! You don't know what it's like to walk through this damn Tower, not knowing what's coming, powers or no…"

"Terra, stop babbling. We have to move, find the others, we can't stand here gibbering and jumping at every small noise…"

"Ahem."

The three Titans nearly destroyed the speaker before realizing who it was.

"Slow learners I see." Scalpel said, leaning against the wall. He glanced behind him as the Titans sighed in relief, just checking to make sure that nothing decided to sneak up on them again.

"Nigel! You're ok!" Terra said.

"Thanks to you. Where's Raven and…"

"She lost them. We did too. And I think you two finding us is all the luck we're going to get." Robin said, as he brushed past Scalpel. "Everyone, follow me! We need to find the others."

To give Robin credit, he stopped three steps after that and waited until everyone was in his sight and nearby before he continued.

* * *

"Is anyone there? Anyone?" Beast Boy said into the now much loathed and reviled communicator.

"Forget it Beast Boy. It's not working, and you might tip off someone or someTHING that we're coming." Raven replied as she walked forward, trying to see if she could sense evil or something similar.

"All right…I'll be quiet…quiet as a mouse…" Beast Boy said, and then actually turned into one. The two continued to tread carefully through hallways.

Beast Boy heard it first.

"Wait…you hear that?" he said quietly. He turned into a rabbit as Raven stopped and looked at him.

"What is it?" she whispered.

"I don't know…" Beast Boy said, his cute little green nose twitching. "Some kind of tinkling noise…like metal…or…coins…"

"Hello? Anyone here?" Robin said as the group walked into the large room, which appeared to be a backup lounge. The room was, as usual, dimly lit. "You heard anything Scalpel?"

"No…nothing…think we're clear…" Scalpel said, though the tight grip on his glaive indicated he didn't exactly have the courage of his convictions.

"Starfire, get rid of the shadows."

"On it." Starfire replied as she raised a glowing green hand. The illumination revealed more empty room…

Except for the large pot of gold coins sitting on the table.

"Wha…look!" Terra said, as she ran over. "Treasure!"

"What?" Scalpel said, as he was looking at something else.

"There's treasure here! Gold!" Terra said, as she reached out a hand, as Robin, who had been checking out something else, finally realized that Terra had noticed something and turned to look at her.

And it.

As memories from two years ago came rushing back.

"TERRA NO GET AWAY!"

The club slammed into the back of Terra's head, the Leprechaun appearing from nowhere to attack the girl and slam his weapon into the back of her skull, a sickening crunch coming from the blow. Terra crumbled immediately, as limp as a rag doll.

"TERRA!" Scalpel yelled.

"More thieves! Freakish monsters sent to steal me gold! But you have made a mistake tonight creatures! No one steals me gold, not even you monsters, and LIVES!" The Leprechaun said, and aimed his club at Starfire.

A second later, fire spewed from his cane, aiming right for the alien girl.

* * *

"Gauntlet, STOP FLIPPING THE COIN AND LET IT FALL!" Cyborg yelled. The two had not realized they were alone until they were far away from Robin and Starfire, much like Terra. Eventually, they had ended up in what Cyborg called "The fancy room", which was basically a large dining room that was used whenever the Titans had important guests (a rare occurrence, but it happened). Not knowing what else to do, Cyborg had suggested they flip a coin. And Gauntlet was flipping one, a quarter, all right. Problem was, he kept flipping it, to, as he said, "make absolutely sure that neither side disputes the result". This was supposedly to avoid problems, but Cyborg's high level of stress had turned it into a problem.

"All right…did you want tails again?"

"How about heads I win, tails you lose?"

"Cy, despite what Savior may say, I am not an idiot."

"D'oh!"

"I don't see why we're doing this anyway. Even if we go back, they won't be there. Or worse, we'll open a door and one of their bodies will fall out. It seems a lot of serial killers like to artfully arrange their victims so their final choice of prey will be terrified out of their mind when the killer goes chasing after them, and if we go forward we may just find the same. Heck, maybe we should just stand still and see what comes to us…"

"Hello." Raven said.

"AH!" Gauntlet yelled, dropping the coin. Cyborg's pallor had turned as gray as his metal parts at the surprise of Raven stepping out of the hallway next to Gauntlet.

"Raven!"

"Cy!" Beast Boy said, as he flew in as a bat and poofed back to human next to his friend. "You've survived!"

"So far." Raven commented, and the two pairs quickly exchanged information.

"Great, at this rate we'll keep splitting up and forming new groups until we find that one of us is odd man out, and then another…and another…" Raven commented.

"Yeah, I mean, I told you guys we should have hired Unpopular Man and the Living Slut at our last membership drive!" Gauntlet said.

Raven gave him one of her looks.

"Actually, those WERE actual superheroes. I checked." Beast Boy said.

"…………Great. Well, considering we don't have any fodder, I suggest we just try and break the rules and all stay alive. So what should we do, stay here and wait for the others and go look for…"

"OW!" Beast Boy yelled, and everyone jumped and prepared to attack. But Beast Boy was just rubbing his forearm.

"What?" Raven said.

"Something bit me!"

"Something bit you?" Raven said, walking forward.

"Don't know…ouch…I got it though…" Beast Boy said as he pulled away his hand. Within the crackled palm was the crushed form of…an insect.

"A bee stung me." Beast Boy said.

"A bee?" Cyborg said. "How did a bee get in here? We have…"

"OH SHIT!" Gauntlet yelled as he suddenly came to the realization. "GUYS WE…"

No one saw it coming, but they sure heard it.

A wet, pulling sound, like someone yanking a strip of meat off a hanging carcass, except ten times louder, and Gauntlet's yell cut off abruptly in a whimper as blood suddenly bloomed on the lower part of his T-Shirt.

And then the three remaining Titans screamed as the hook burst out; even as Gauntlet was lifted into the air, blood starting to flow heavily from his mouth. He'd never seen it coming, never had time for the Gauntlet to shield him from the hook that protruded from his stomach.

Beast Boy stared at the weapon. This was not like the Fisherman's hook, which was basically an extra large industrial model of the type used to catch the aquatic animals. This was larger, pitch black, and unlike the smooth curve of the Fisherman this hook was rougher, more primeval, like a length of metal that had been hammered into a rough hook shape, sharp shards of metal poking from its fire-scorched base, even as its wielder lifted a helpless and agonizing Gauntlet into the air, even as it spoke.

"Ah…so young…almost tragic…if not for the sad inevitabilities of it all…"

And the hook snapped aside, Gauntlet's body sliding off of it with a sick ripping noise and falling at the feet of the being that had appeared right behind him, right THROUGH him, as the Titans stared in horror at it.

At him.

The man, if you could call him a man, was tall, very tall, seemingly towering over even Cyborg, though there probably wasn't much more then three or four inches between their actual heights. He was a black man, with short hair and a clean shaven face with a gothic manner about it, wearing a dark fur trench coat, his large arms emerging from its sleeve, one ending in a huge hand and another in the demonic hook, the hook he raised slightly as he regarded the Titans.

"Children. So sweet. Sweets for the sweet." He said.

In the background, Beast Boy could make out two faint noises. The louder and it was still very quiet) noise was of bees buzzing, and right under that, so faint even Scalpel would barely be aware it was there, was…music…choir music.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked the three.

And Raven, having read the story from which this monster had sprang from, from page to silver screen to this nightmarish reality, answered most appropriately.

"You are rumour." She replied.

Cyborg, however, answered best, as he named the monster before him.

"Candyman."


	9. Any Which Way You Can

Part 9: Any Which Way You Can

Can one really apply psychological reasoning to a horror film? Maybe.

Can one really apply it to a series of film starring a malevolent leprechaun played by Warwick Davis? Davis was a midget actor who made a small (no pun intended) name for himself playing Wickett the Ewok in _Return of the Jedi_ and then starring in one of the better made fantasy films of the past twenty years, _Willow_, in which Warwick played the title character. But (no pun intended, again), large parts for midget actors weren't exactly forthcoming, and even if they were, they tended to be forgettable (like that actor who had played Mini-Me, Verne Whatshisname). So Warwick Davis had taken the role of the Leprechaun, and surprisingly it must have caught on, as the film had spawned five sequels to date. True, they weren't all masterpieces of terror…but then again, what horror film series really ARE? These days, they're either self-mocking, remade Japanese, or just plain terrible…er, getting back on topic.

The main point was, this was not Warwick Davis in makeup and speaking with an Irish accent, but the character he portrayed, the Leprechaun, brought to life. And to understand why Terra was now on the ground with a large crack in her skull, you have to understand what had just happened and how the Leprechaun reacted to it.

As you recall, Savior had placed the pot of gold on the ground next to the Leprechaun's "dead" body, and after the Leprechaun had proven to not be so dead and sent Savior out the window, the Leprechaun had snatched up his pot and wandered off.

He was still rather upset at Savior's "defiling" of his coin, though, and even though he had tossed the "besmirched" coin back in with the rest, he wasn't paying the greatest amount of attention…and hence when he had picked up the pot and lugged it off, he hadn't noticed another piece fall out and roll away.

The Leprechaun had simple pleasures: he liked to eat potatoes, drink, shine shoes, puff his pipe, and kill people. But the thing he liked to do the most was count his gold. Again. And Again. And Again. To him, each time was a whole new transcendent joy.

And it also had caused him to memorize the entire contents of his pot. And considering that his great deal of dark magical power generated from that pot, as WELL as his obsession with it, he had been quite upset when he had discovered the missing piece when he had sat down on another table to count his gold.

And it had been about that time when he had heard the Robin 4 (for lack of a better term) approaching. In his mind, it was quite simple: strangers plus missing piece of gold equaled thieves that had stolen his gold. So he had hidden himself, and when the blonde girl had tried to steal his gold, as he knew she would, he had taken care of her, and now he would deal with her fellow thieves, as he called on his dark powers and struck out with fire at the strange girl with orange skin.

He was greatly surprised when she dodged it.

By flying up over it.

The blast of fire hit the wall and conked out, as the Leprechaun looked up at the flying Starfire in surprise.

"That's not supposed to happen…" He said.

Starfire fired twin Starbolts at him, blowing the Leprechaun off the table and across the room, as he slammed back first into a wall.

"Neither is that…" He muttered.

"The goddamn Leprechaun." Robin said. He knew the character: several of Beast Boy's films last year had been the Leprechaun movies. He snapped out his staff, even as Scalpel looked at him.

"Orders?" he asked.

"GUT HIM!"

"Done." Scalpel said, and leapt into the air, swinging up his glaive.

The Leprechaun looked up at the descending alien.

"Bad manners, all of you!"

Scalpel was knocked out of the air by a telekinetic slam, but even as he came crashing down on a table Starfire was flying in, firing more Starbolts. The Leprechaun ran to the side to avoid them, passing by a withered house plant, and then he waved his cane at the plant. The nearly dead ferns suddenly came back to life, violent life, as they turned into spiked vines that flew up and wrapped around Starfire before she knew what was happened. She screamed as the thorns torn into her skin.

"Fair young maiden though she be, there's a dear price to pay for being uppity!" The Leprechaun said.

Birdarangs ripped through the vines, though Starfire couldn't free herself from their grip in time to prevent herself from tumbling to the ground. Robin didn't say anything; he just leapt up into the air, swinging his staff around, up and down…

The Leprechaun blocked it with his cane.

"Impolite lot, you are!"

"You were the one who brained our companion!"

"YOU TRIED TO STEAL ME GOLD!"

"NO WE DIDN'T!"

"LIARS!" The Leprechaun yelled, shoving Robin backwards. Robin went with the move, cartwheeling away, spinning on his ankles, and then feinting with his staff even as he went in for a punch…

And the Leprechaun grabbed his arm.

"Bad move, young one."

And the Leprechaun yanked Robin's arm right out of his socket.

* * *

Shall we apply the same reasoning to the Candyman?

(Though we may have more ground with him. Based on a short story called _The Forbidden_ by Clive Barker, the Candyman series took several elements from Clive Barker's previous short story turned film series, _Hellraiser_, and had produced this story. In 1890, there had lived a genius painter named Daniel Robitaille, who happened to be black. That detail did become important in a bit. He was commissioned to paint the portrait of a landowner's daughter. Robitaille did more then that. Considering the year, racial relations weren't the nicest ones, and Daniel was chased down by an angry mob, who committed an act of mass savagery by sawing off his right hand, then pouring honey on his body, which attracted thousand of bees that stung him, while the crowd mockingly chanted "Candyman" five times. After this atrocity, Daniel's white lover managed to break through the crowd enough to get close to Daniel, and she happened to be carrying a mirror. Burning with terrible rage, hatred, and pain, Daniel's soul somehow became trapped in the glass. After a hundred years, this poor man's murder had become the legend of the Candyman, which said that if you chanted his name five times into a mirror, he would appear. And bad things would happen, as Robitaille's time trapped had transformed him into a vengeful monster, lacking any empathy or humanity, stalking whoever had summoned him, murdering those they knew, and sometimes trying to get them to join him in his personal hell. As the Candyman himself said, "They say I have shed innocent blood. What's blood, if not for shedding?").

And even though no one had actually spoken his name into a mirror, the Candyman didn't much have a problem with cutting corners. After all, he was here. And so were people. So, he did what he did best and gutted one.

He was pleased they knew who he was. That always made it sweeter for him.

He was not so pleased when the strange man who seemed to have metal over his body and face suddenly raised his arm and fired a blast of power that struck him and drove him backwards, slamming him against a wall with a thunderous crash. While his human side had long lost the ability to feel most things, he certainly didn't much like the process, or the resistance.

It also kept him from being much surprised when a green lion leapt at him. Instead, he just acted, as he lifted up his left hand and caught the beast, and hurled him across the room like he weighed nothing at all. Beast Boy crashed down at the end of the table, knocking the long piece of furniture down with a crash.

"So you resist." The Candyman said, even as Cyborg charged at him. "Children, you cannot fight the inescapable."

"ESCAPE THIS!" Cyborg roared, as he swung his fist at the Candyman.

The Candyman did: he simply vanished into thin air.

Cyborg yelped in the way the surprised do and stumbled to a halt, and then whirled around…

And screamed as the hook suddenly buried itself in Cyborg's own stomach, piercing through his armor like it wasn't there, as the metal teen looked up in horror at the Candyman's impassive face.

"Come. Be my victim." The Candyman said, and yanked the hook out, pulling wires and parts out even as liquids spewed from the wound, machine blood mixing with human blood.

* * *

Robin howled, though he hated the fact, but that very fact was that having an arm dislocated hurt like a motherfucker, and since Robin wasn't prepared for it in the least, he made the howling noise, like a dog being stepped on, as he staggered back, his right arm swinging lifelessly back and forth.

"Your thieves are strange, I must say, but I doubt your arm should hang THAT way." The Leprechaun laughed, as Robin staggered back.

"You…little sunnuva…!" Robin hissed, as he dropped his staff and grabbed for his belt. He was almost out of Birdarangs, but he didn't care, as he grabbed one and hurled it at the Leprechaun.

"Batter up!" The Leprechaun said, as he raised his staff like a bat…and hit the Birdarang right back at Robin. It smashed into his chest and sent his stumbling back over a chair.

"Home run!" The Leprechaun chuckled.

Twin knives suddenly sprouted in his back. It was the Leprechaun's turn to howl as Scalpel's blades buried deep, and he staggered around…and then Scalpel swooped down and slashed out his foot, catching the Leprechaun across the face and ripping a good part of it off. The small goblin flew, blood spraying, and rolled across the room.

"Grand slam." Scalpel muttered, as he unsnapped his glaive and went after the demonic elf.

The Leprechaun was already getting up, now sounding more annoyed then hurt. A wave of his hand caused the knives to slide out of his back, and then the Leprechaun pressed the shredded part of his face back into place, and within two seconds the wounds had faded and vanished.

"Perhaps to say this makes me dim, but your toenails could use a trim." The Leprechaun said.

Scalpel didn't answer: he just slashed his glaive down.

The Leprechaun blocked it, and to Scalpel's great surprise, he managed to hold the block.

"Your hospitality…is among the worst I've ever seen." The Leprechaun said. "But what could one expect from no good thieves?"

"You don't listen much, do you?" Scalpel replied.

"I admit me hearing's not what it used to be…" The Leprechaun said.

And then he vanished, much like the Candyman. Scalpel stumbled forward as the leverage abruptly shifted, and then yelled as the Leprechaun was suddenly on his back.

"Maybe THESE will help!" The Leprechaun laughed, grabbing hold of Scalpel's huge ears. Scalpel yelled and stabbed the glaive up, but he couldn't get the right angle as the Leprechaun kept pulling on his ears, laughing the whole time.

"Can you hear me now? Good! Can you hear me now? Good!" The Leprechaun chortled.

A Starbolt blew him off Nigel's back, sending him crashing into a wall.

"You interrupted my pony ride! Now I'll definitely commit some homi…" The Leprechaun started…

And then Scalpel swung low, piercing the glaive right through the Leprechaun's chest, bringing him up at an angle and pinning him to the wall as the blade burst out his back. The Leprechaun screamed, thrashed…and then went limp.

Scalpel shuddered as he let out a long breath. He could hear Starfire coming up behind him as he relaxed his grip…

And then his glaive suddenly fired backwards, shooting right out of the Leprechaun's body and sending Scalpel, who was unfortunately on the other end, all the way across the room until it hit the opposing wall. Unfortunately, as mentioned, Scalpel's new choice of glaive was bladed on BOTH ends.

Scalpel roared as the situation was reversed and he found HIMSELF pinned to the wall, blood running from his once again open chest wound and hitting the ground, hissing.

The Leprechaun stood up from where he had dropped when the glaive was removed, brushing the front of his suit as the wound disappeared.

"Nice weapon you have there…" The Leprechaun said. "I think I may have use for it!"

The glaive was suddenly pulled back out of Scalpel and flew up into the air, whirling in a tight circle as it flew right for Starfire, who was about to blast the Leprechaun again. She shrieked and ran for it, as the Leprechaun laughed and chased her with the weapon.

"You are a truly outlandish dame! But I wonder, do you bleed the same?" The Leprechaun asked, and chuckled merrily as Starfire flew all over the room to avoid the glaive.

The alien finally got a spot of luck as Starfire did a tight turn and flew past the glaive, which had to turn at an even more outlandish angle to try and impale her. Starfire then zipped to the right at the last second, gambling that the close call would make the Leprechaun overextend himself. And he did, as the glaive shot past her and went right through the ceiling. Starfire yelled in joy…

And then crashed right into one of the walls: she hadn't been paying the greatest amount of attention. The Leprechaun laughed at this as she fell. A wave of his hand brought his cane back to him, and he started walking towards the two fallen aliens, as Starfire had landed near where Scalpel was trying to recover.

"Small though I am, mighty is my spirit when bloody battle calls. Come at me with what you will. Shoot me, stab me, kill me a hundred ways. Still I fight on. I am as eternal as the sun! I am a thousand demons from hell! Death and damage is my game, agony is my name!" The Leprechaun crowed, as he raised his staff. He wasn't sure what he was going to do to finish these two off, but he would make sure it was painful.

* * *

The Candyman slowly walked around the table, heading towards the green child. What a strange creature. But all creatures bled…

"Hey." Said a voice behind him.

The Candyman turned, and then Cyborg's fist slammed into his face. Candyman had erred: the robotic teen organic parts weren't assembled the same way as a normal human's any more, and virtually all Candyman's hook had gotten was metal and cybernetics, which Cyborg quickly rerouted to get back on his feet. The Candyman stumbled back at the blow, and then with a roar he stopped and slashed his hook out. Cyborg ducked under it and rammed his shoulder into the Candyman, football tackling him right into a wall. The Candyman swung his hook down, but Cyborg was already sliding away, the edge of the hook catching on his back armor and making a terrible shrieking noise as it glanced off. Cyborg ignored the sound and the sensation as he spun and slammed his foot into the Candyman's gut. The Candyman made no sound or indication that it had hurt, but he didn't seem to shrug it off, as Cuyborg spun up, his sonic cannon splitting apart and converting into his gatling gun arm.

"You know, you really should have upgraded." Cyborg said.

The cylinder whirred up and exploded, bullets ripping through the Candyman, riddling him as he was battered by the onslaught, the wall filling with holes behind him. Cyborg only carried one clip of normal, aka lethal ammo, but he didn't stop until he had emptied almost the entire clip into the monstrous being. When the gun finally stopped, there was an eerie silence.

Beast Boy had finally recovered from his experience as a shotput, and he was wondering if he even needed to come to Cyborg's aid, as the Candyman seemed to be falling…

No, not falling, stumbling. And that only lasted a step, as the Candyman righted himself and brought himself back up, his fur trench coat in tatters…and Beast Boy was suddenly aware that the faint buzzing he had heard before was multiplying, greatly.

"You have disturbed them." The Candyman said, as he reached towards his chest. "Those who do so are not long for this world…"

And the Candyman opened what was left of his jacket. Cyborg's eyes widened as he saw what was underneath. The Candyman's had no skin or torso muscles: all that peered out from underneath was a rib cage…covered in bees, hundreds, thousands of them.

Who swarmed off the bone structure and at Cyborg, who screamed and held up his arms as they enveloped him. He staggered away, bees covering his being. Sonic cannon blasts flew from the mass, causing small piles of insects to fall to the ground, but it didn't seem to decrease the number as Cyborg wailed and howled, trying to escape.

"CYBORG!" Beast Boy yelled, as the Candyman closed his jacket. He turned and regarded Beast Boy, as if he had already written Cyborg off and was now picking the transformer for his next victim.

And Beast Boy decided that if he couldn't assume a form to kill the bees, he'd take care of their master. His form bulged outward as he became a Stegosaurus, the massive reptile barely able to fit in the room, as he twisted and swung a huge tail filled covered in massive bone spikes…

The tail tore apart the wall as the Candyman disappeared again. Beast Boy couldn't raise an eyebrow in his dinosaur form, but his face still conveyed a great look of surprise…

The Candyman was by his side, the hook slicing out and gorging into his flank, ripping open a long glistening wound. Beast Boy shrieked. He hadn't been expecting that: one of the advantages of becoming dinosaurs was that they had VERY thick hides that could guard against a variety of weapons, including high tech ones. But the Candyman's hook was not a normal hook, which would have barely scratched Beast Boy's skin: it was a weapon of primordial rage and evil, and against that, even Beast Boy's skin was no match. Not expecting such pain, Beast Boy reverted to human form, the wound transforming into a long cut that ran down his side and thigh. Though it hadn't hit any arteries, it still bled like crazy, as Beast Boy staggered, stumbled, and fell.

"Beautiful." The Candyman said, as the blood pooled at his feet. He stepped up to Beast Boy. "Come. Let's make a masterpiece."

The blow came out of nowhere, the yellow energy smashing into the Candyman and sending him firing across the room like a shooting star, roaring in surprise. He didn't just hit the wall, he went THROUGH it, crashing down in the room behind with another bellow of demonic fury.

Gauntlet lowered his arm, his namesake weapon now two-thirds of the way up it. The hole in his shirt now only showed scarred skin, and the look on his face was as unlike Gauntlet as anything. It was more a look like Savior would wear. He looked over at Beast Boy.

"I'll be ok. Go!" Beast Boy ordered. Gauntlet didn't reply, he just took off in the direction that he had sent the Candyman. Passing by the still bee-assaulted Cyborg, the Gauntlet flowed out and over the besieged robot, putting a barrier between him and the bees. The insects didn't get a chance to figure out where their victim had gone though: the energy swiftly flowed up and around the bees, and before they knew it all the insects were trapped in the power. Which swiftly contracted and squashed the life out of the swarm.

Wincing as he staggered away, pulling stingers from his head and face, Cyborg was barely aware of Gauntlet summoning his artifact's power to hop through the hole the Candyman had made.

Beast Boy, meanwhile, had pulled himself over to where he figured Gauntlet had made his miraculous recovery. Raven must have excused herself from the battle to heal him. Beast Boy hoped she had enough juice left to at least stop his blood flow…

Then he saw her, sitting, leaning against the wall, her eyes distant, a slow trickle of blood flowing from her nose, and he knew she wouldn't be helping him.

Possibly ever again.

* * *

"To steal me gold, a sin far from slight! So it shall be foretold, more thieves die this night!" The Leprechaun said as he headed for the two.

Starfire was still dazed, but Scalpel had recovered enough, as he reached behind him and withdrew the scimitar-like Blacktrinian blade he had taken. With a roar, he leapt at the Leprechaun.

"That's boring now." The Leprechaun said, and Scalpel's leap abruptly reversed itself as he was thrown backwards into the wall. "If you're going to offer one last gasp, make it memorable."

"If you say so."

If horror movies monsters have a universal weakness, it is the fact they cannot seem to resist turning around whenever they hear a voice speak behind them. And upon hearing Robin's voice, the Leprechaun proved to be no exception, as he turned, his face gleeful at the chance to do some more harm to the boy. Maybe he'd RIP his arm off this time.

It was too bad the Leprechaun looked behind himself and not up. For he found no one behind him…because Robin was leaping over him. And he was holding something.

The Leprechaun heard the boy land behind him. But he didn't have the chance to turn around again, as Robin leapt forward.

Had Scalpel or Starfire been fully alert, they still might have not figured out what Robin did. For the best chance of knowing, they would have had to record it with a video camera and then slowed it down.

The first thing Robin did was place his right arm, now back in its socket (though putting it back in had hurt almost as much as it being yanked out), as he swung his other hand down, the appendage holding an object that had odd angles and colors…and apparently some kind of glue, as it stuck to the Leprechaun's chest. No sooner had he slapped the item on when his left hand darted back to the Leprechaun's other shoulder, even as his momentum began to carry him over the elf, even as the Leprechaun started to open his mouth to complain, even as Robin did an insanely tight turn while holding onto the Leprechaun's shoulders and yanked/threw, hurling the Leprechaun over him and through the air. He hit the ground, bounced once, crashed into a table, and then he exploded in a giant blast, shrapnel spraying the room and impaling itself in the second table Robin had flipped up between him and his comrades in an impromptu cover.

"Robin! You have…!" Starfire rejoiced.

"That was everything I had left in my utility belt, and even THAT won't hold him for long!" Robin said, cutting Starfire off. "We have to kill for good!"

"None of this will be effective?" Starfire said, indicating everything they had already used on the Leprechaun.

"No! He's the kind of horror movie villain who shrugs off everything except a special tactic! We need to find one!" Robin said.

"Like what?" Scalpel asked.

"Um…I'm trying to remember…AH HA! A four-leaf clover! We have to find a four leaf clover and shove it in his mouth!" Robin suggested.

"Brilliant!" Starfire said.

"Where are we going to find a four leaf clover?" Scalpel asked.

Robin and Starfire facevaulted.

"He has a point…aha! Leprechauns belong to the fairy folk, even THIS bad seed, and fairies can be harmed by wrought iron! That's easier to find!"

"Robin, outside of graveyards, where can we find wrought iron?" Scalpel asked.

"Yes…and I must say it will be harder to make him eat a big gate rather then a tiny leaf." Starfire added. Robin facevaulted again.

"Dammit, what else besides wrought iron…aha! _Leprechaun 4: In Space!_ He can be killed by hard vacuum!"

"Ok, can you keep him occupied until we can fetch Superman so we can toss him out of our atmosphere?" Scalpel said.

"STOP SHOOTING MY PLANS DOWN!"

"I agree Tim, these all requite things we do not have handy. What else is there?" Starfire said.

"Well…uh…OF COURSE! His gold! If we destroy his gold, he'll die too!"

"Now THAT I can get behind!" Scalpel said as he stood up with his sword. He stood there for a few seconds.

"It just occurred to me I cannot destroy the gold by chopping it. Starfire, if you would?" Scalpel said.

"One shattered rainbow coming up!" Starfire said, as she flew up, heading for the gold as her hands glowed bright green.

And then the ceiling collapsed on her.

"Starfire-AHHHHHHHHH!" Robin screamed as what looked like a pack of playing cards flew through the air…and impaled into his shoulders, pinning the teen against the wall. Scalpel stared at this sudden turnaround (and noted that all four aces were accounted for), and then rods of metal suddenly ripped out of the wall behind him and impaled through his shoulders and gut. The whole Tower rang with his bellow.

"You may be powerful thieves, but me…I'm magic." The Leprechaun said in his new magician's tuxedo, cape, and top hat from the couch he was standing on. He chuckled merrily and then swung the cape around him, vanishing in a blast of foul smelling smoke.

Groaning, Starfire pushed herself out of the wreckage, as the Leprechaun reappeared near the table where his gold was perched, now back in his green threads.

"You may think this line is getting old, but to say it again, no one touches me gold!" The Leprechaun said as he flexed his fingers. "What pretty hair you have dearie." He added as he reached for Starfire's head. "I think I'll hang it on me wall."

* * *

Sometimes, Raven wished she had never demonstrated she could heal wounds.

It was a very useful talent, and it had saved her friend's lives a lot, but her ability wasn't like waving a magic wand and saying "Make like Wolverine." In order to heal the wound, she had to take the pain of it into her body. Needless to say, this wasn't fun in the best of times, and in the worst of times it was hell.

Healing a serious gut wound like the one the Candyman had inflicted, while not at the peak of her abilities…that was the kind of effort that broke people. Though Gauntlet had gone into shock, which greatly lessened some of her effort, healing impalement through the stomach and intestines wasn't like closing up a flesh wound or knitting together a bone. Not only did she have to fix the damaged tissue, she also had to do a general clean up job to make sure Gauntlet didn't end up with peritonis. The end result, in her current state, had indeed broken her, as she had sagged backwards when the job was done and entered a catatonic state. She could vaguely hear Beast Boy calling to her, but at the moment all she knew was the feeling of floating in a gray murk.

And for all his goofiness, Gauntlet knew what Raven had pushed herself to do, and he was demonstrating one of the rare times when he took things seriously. And when Gauntlet managed to look at the world without his rose colored glasses…

In any case, let us return to the battle as Gauntlet landed on the floor. Now he and the Candyman were in Cyborg's father's old cigar room, which was filled with fake animal heads and an old fireplace. The Candyman was standing there, as if awaiting Gauntlet's arrival.

"You fight me." He said.

"BRILLIANT deduction there, dumbass." Gauntlet said, and fired off a yellow energy bludgeon.

The Candyman disappeared, the blow striking nothing but air…as it whirled around, even as Gauntlet leapt forward and did a spinning screwdriver turnaround as the Candyman's hook slashed where he had been, the yellow energy catching the demonic spirit as he bellowed in surprise.

"Fool me once, I am shamed…er…whatever." Gauntlet said, and hurled the Candyman into the brick fireplace. Smoke exploded from the pit, even as lines of yellow energy reached out, seized the structure, and brought it down on the Candyman.

He did not crack a joke. He did not taunt or insult. He waited for the Candyman to return. In the back of his head, he was vaguely aware of what Robin was, at roughly the same time, discussing with his team: that the Candyman was the type that couldn't be stopped by normal means. But most of his being was currently filled with his current plan: hit the Candyman until he stayed down.

Cyborg, his face swelling from bee stings, was somewhat more aware of it, as he limped over to one of the broken table's ends and yanked off one of the legs. He had a plan.

It was not a violent eruption when the Candyman returned: the bricks merely slid aside and away as the Candyman floated up, his coat billowing, his arms out slightly.

"Dear child…why do you resist so? Come…end it now…it will be unlike anything you have ever experienced." The Candyman said.

"Buddy, unless you're Pamela Anderson in a hot tub, don't be making those kind of offers."

The Candyman vanished.

The yellow energy snapped out over Gauntlet's back and intercepted the hook. More strands flowed out and planted themselves in the ground as Gauntlet half dove forward/half spun, whirling on the strands as he slammed his feet into the Candyman's chest, once again sending him flying through the room. This time, he didn't hit the wall: he stopped in mid air and then flew back at Gauntlet, slashing out the hook as Gauntlet flipped to his feet and turned around. More yellow strands caught the hook, but this time it kept coming as Candyman exerted his fiendish might and Gauntlet found he could barely resist it: the combination of the Candyman's own power, the lessened state of his own, and the atmosphere that had infected the Tower all combining against Robert Candide. And that barely holding him back was becoming "not holding him back at all" as the hook slowly made its way towards the side of Gauntlet's neck.

"Um…you mind disappearing NOW?" Gauntlet asked. The Candyman just kept shoving his hook towards Gauntlet. "Ok fine I'll give you a reason to leave!"

And talons of energy appeared on Gauntlet's left hand as he reached up and ripped open the side of the Candyman's face.

And bees began to pour out of the wound, flying and buzzing. Gauntlet yelped and formed a helmet over his head as the bees went for his eyes, and then he reformed his talons into a fly swatter that squashed the bees flat…and then the hook ripped through the Gauntlet energy and swung down…

And Gauntlet got his namesake twisted up and in the way of the blow…with the hook cutting straight through the mystical armor and burying itself in Gauntlet's arm.

Gauntlet screamed, though it was a lot more in surprise then pain. Some nutso from a horror film couldn't go through his Gauntlet! It was a…and the hook digging in made him realize he might want to focus on other things. He started punching the Candyman in the face with his other, energy encrusted hand, feeling bones break and squirming insects die under his assault…

And then the Candyman had grabbed him with his other, normal hand, and with a bellow of utter rage he spun and hurled Gauntlet through the air. Gauntlet crashed through the same wall he had thrown the Candyman through, and for a few seconds the wall had two holes before the dividing barrier sagged and collapsed, sending a huge cloud of dust billowing into the old cigar room and the fancy dining room.

Coughing, Gauntlet got up, trying to focus through the fact that his weapon had been damaged, his precious artifact pierced, what had happened, he had been told it would take so much more then what the Candyman should have generated, what was going on, was the Candyman that powerful…?

"Child…come now…this has gone on enough…" The Candyman said as he slowly floated from the dust cloud. "The torment will bring your form to a peak ecstasy could never touch."

"You're STILL not Mrs. Anderson." Gauntlet said.

"If that is what you wish…" The Candyman said, as he began opening his coat again.

And Gauntlet realized that in its damaged state, the Gauntlet couldn't form a proper shield, if it could form a shield at all, and he was a lot softer then Cyborg was.

* * *

The pebble slammed into the back of his skull, causing the Leprechaun to stumble forward.

"Hey, short, dumb, and ugly." Terra said. Terra's blonde hair wasn't golden anymore: it was completely red, soaked with blood that dripped off the ends to the floor around her as the vital liquid flowed from the huge cut that was now on the back of her head. But her stance was steady, as she raised one arm…revealing she had the Leprechaun's pot of gold floating on a rock shelf…and another, larger rock floating above it.

The Leprechaun's eyes widened.

"Me gold!"

"Will go straight to the center of the earth if you don't release my friends, right NOW." Terra said.

The Leprechaun's face contorted in rage, but he grudgingly snapped his fingers. The cards and rods removed themselves. Scalpel fell to his knees, while Robin fell right onto his face, groaned, and then began trying to claw his way around the ground, heading for an exit. Scalpel might have been amazed at this, as Robin clearly appeared to be trying to flee…but he had his own problems.

"Ok dear lass, your friends are free. Now give me gold back…"

"MAKE me." Terra said, giving the Leprechaun an expression that might have been the bastard love child of a grimace, an angry glare, and a smirk.

"Dear lass…there's been a misunderstanding! Just give me me gold, and I'll go away…"

"Fuck you."

"Lass…I can make it worth your while…" The Leprechaun said, approaching, his hands held wide.

"Yeah. These coins grant wishes, don't they?" Terra said, as she floated the rock over to her. The Leprechaun's face contorted in great rage, but it was quickly back to normal as he went back to his attempted diplomacy to get his gold back.

"Indeed, and much more, and I'll show you these marvels if you just give it back…"

"No, I'm not greedy." Terra said. "I'll make do with one."

And she reached over and grabbed a coin.

"DIE." She said.

A pause.

"Dye, you say? Certainly!" The Leprechaun said.

A torrent of red suddenly exploded from the ground and right into Terra's face. She screamed and reared back, clawing at her eyes, and the Leprechaun ran, leaping through the air and grabbing his pot as Terra tried to recover. He landed and chuckled.

"That's the thing about wishes, me lassie! Alone, you get what YOU want…but with me here, near ME gold, it tends to care more what I want. But thank you for being so vague as well." The Leprechaun said, putting the pot down as Terra finally cleared her eyes, her entire form now soaked in red. "Now you match, Carrie!"

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Terra screamed, and rocks tore up through the floor and flew at the Leprechaun.

"Now, that's no way to talk about me dear mother." The Leprechaun said, as a wave of his hand produced his cane. He barely seemed to notice the rocks flying at him…as he touched the cane to the pool of dye that was almost at his feet. Electricity suddenly blasted through the cane, conducted through the liquid, and straight into Terra, and her rocks froze and then went haywire as she jerked, thrashed, and finally collapsed, smoking, as the Leprechaun removed his cane/taser from the pool and ducked, almost gracefully, over one last dagger of stone as it randomly flew past him.

(Writer's Note: And before anyone starts complaining that the Leprechaun has a taser in his cane, 1) In Leprechaun 4 he had a LIGHTSABER in his cane, 2) If you haven't noticed he seems to have magic powers that come and go as he needs them, and 3) You accepted razor sharp playing cards, giant plants, and quick change magician outfits, but you have trouble with a taser?)

"To steal me gold is a mortal sin, but to threaten it too? Where do I BEGIN?" The Leprechaun said. He raised his cane, and several hooks and blades sprouted from it. "Huh, works for me."

The Leprechaun headed for Terra.

Scalpel leapt through the air, swinging his sword. The Leprechaun turned to look at him.

"I said that was BORING!"

The glaive flew through the air, impaling itself through Scalpel and pinning him to the wall AGAIN. A chair, a table, a bookcase, and a lamp followed, slamming into the glaive and driving it deeper into him. Scalpel screamed/gurgled, and then blood poured from his mouth. He was REALLY beginning to hate his species' great resistance to blades, or more specifically, that said resistance didn't mean blades bounced off their bodies, but that their bodies could be sliced and diced again and again and they'd survive it…even IF it was agony.

And how had the glaive gotten back into the room after going through the ceiling? Beats me, I just work here.

"You fight quite well, so your horn I toot, but I've more tricks then a prostitute." The Leprechaun said.

"Hey, shorty!"

Will the Leprechaun learn his lesson and NOT turn around this time?

The Leprechaun turned around.

Guess not.

Though no one assaulted him this time. Instead, Robin stood in the doorway, his staff out and his face full of rage.

"You motherfucking little midget, do you know who you are FUCKING with? I should toss you like the dwarf you are, or maybe just inject some alcohol straight into your veins! Oh oh, I know! I'll take your gold and kept it for centuries just like the British Empire! You dig me, TINY?" Robin snarled, twirling his staff.

The Leprechaun's eyes seemed to almost light up in fury.

"You've done it now, if you get my notion! I'll strew your parts across the ocean!" The Leprechaun snarled, as he raised his staff.

"FUCKKKK YOU!!!!!!" Robin screamed, charging as he twirled his staff some more. The Leprechaun's rage cooled a bit as he figured it out: it was a suicidal last stand. Well, the insults made him angry, but he'd feel a lot better when he thwarted the costumed lad's last attack and used his power to twist him into a bunch of interesting shapes.

"You may carry a big stick laddy, but you forgot the part about speaking softly!" The Leprechaun said, as he began swinging back his arm. This blow would reduce the child's kneecap to powder.

And Robin struck…by hurling the staff straight up into the air.

"WHA?" The Leprechaun said, his eyes following it…

As Robin reached behind him, yanked the taped object off his back, and thrust it out, stabbing it deep into the Leprechaun's chest.

"AHHHH! AHHHHHHHHHH!" The Leprechaun screamed, as he looked down at what Robin had stuck into his chest.

"My friend Victor, I recalled, made his car up for Halloween. Tinted orange paneling, bat shaped windshield wipers, seats made up like tombstones…and a special stick shift. One that looked like it would belong in a graveyard…and one that just happened to be made of WROUGHT iron." Robin said. "But look on the bright side. At least we didn't steal your gold."

The iron gearshaft began to glow red as Robin let it go, and flames suddenly exploded from the pot of gold as the Leprechaun staggered back, feebly pawing at the makeshift but fatal dagger, as Robin ran over and picked up Terra, even as Starfire finished yanking Scalpel's glaive out, pulling the wounded alien over her shoulder as she followed Robin as he ran for it.

They were several steps out of the room when the explosion came, blowing them all off their feet and shattering every window on that tower level. Dust fell on the four.

Coughing, Robin got up, helping Terra as she muttered and tried to collect herself.

"You sure he won't come back from that?" Terra asked.

"This time, his luck ran out." Robin said.

* * *

The Candyman began to draw back his garment, to reveal the malevolent hive that lay within him, a buzzing nightmare…

And Cyborg reared up next to him and stabbed the fiery stake right into it.

The Candyman finally demonstrated a serious reaction besides anger, as he began to scream, the flames enveloping the bees as Cyborg flung himself away from the monster and next to Gauntlet.

"Is that going to be fatal?" Gauntlet asked.

"I don't know, but it sure makes him scream a lot!" Cyborg replied. "Let's add to his pain!"

"I'll up to that!" Gauntlet said, as he formed the yellow energy into his version of a bee stinger.

Beast Boy wasn't really aware of what was going on: he was trying to simultaneously stop the blood flow on his side and leg and get Raven to wake up. He thought he was making some progress: she now looked dazed more then catatonic.

"Rae? You there? Come on! Follow my hand!" Beast Boy said, slowly waving said hand back and forth. Raven's eyes didn't follow, but her head did shift, and she murmured something that might have been "Gar". That was enough, so he kept trying.

Even as Cyborg and Gauntlet swooped in, a blast of sonic energy and a Guantlet energy fist slamming into the flaming Candyman, driving him back…and also knocking out the flaming stake. Gauntlet's eyes widened.

"Oops."

"Gar…help…" Raven whispered.

"Raven! You heard me!"

"Help…"

"What do you need?"

"…ot…"

"Odds?" Beast Boy said.

"Hers."

"Her what?"

Then it hit him: Raven had said OTHERS. Which meant she wanted him to help Cyborg and Gauntlet…except Beast Boy had no idea how. How could he fight someone like the Candyman? He really wished Raven was more lucid. Was there any way to speed it up? Maybe he could go get something in her room, a spellbook or her mirror or…

And it hit him.

And Cyborg and Gauntlet hit the Candyman.

"ENOUGH."

The Candyman was gone.

Then both of Gauntlet's knees suddenly tore open, the Candyman's bloody hook ripping apart the muscle, and even before he could scream the side of Cyborg's neck suddenly tore open as well. Cyborg recoiled as fluids began pouring from it, even as Gauntlet fell, unable to stand any more.

"It is done children." The Candyman said as he reappeared, back to normal, as if the fiery stake had never happened. He began to walk towards the two, raising his hook for the final strikes. "Now…be my victims…"

"Candyman!"

Well, at least it wasn't "Hey", as the Candyman turned at his name being called. It was Beast Boy…and he had a mirror.

"You come out of this, right?" Beast Boy said. "Someone chants your name and you show up?"

"If you desire to be first child, all you must do is ask." The Candyman said, as he turned and started walking towards Beast Boy.

"Not really. You see, I wonder, if saying Candyman into a mirror five times brings you OUT…well…" Beast Boy said.

And he turned his back to the Candyman, even as he held the mirror above his head.

"Namydnac!"

Candyman again showed emotion: he looked perturbed.

"Namydnac!"

"What are you doing?"

"Namydnac!"

"Do not arouse my ire child!" The Candyman said as he quickened his pace.

"Namydnac!"

The Candyman was there, as he swung out his hook and prepared to rip Beast Boy's head from his body.

"NAMYDNAC!"

The Candyman froze in mid swing, his form stopping perfectly…and then cracks began to appear on his body…and then he shattered, his body splitting apart and turning into a thousand shards of crystal that floated down and vanished, leaving no trace of the terrible evil that had once been Daniel Robitaille.

Silence, as Beast Boy lowered the mirror and turned around, staring at where the Candyman had just been.

"……………I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT WORKED!" He yelled. "How in the hell did that work? That has got to be the most ridiculous, nonsensical…"

"SMASH THE DAMN THING!" Cyborg yelled.

"Oh, right." Beast Boy said, and turned around as he reared back and shattered the mirror on a chair. He could have sworn he heard a faint scream, and then silence, as the mirror pieces fell around the chair. Beast Boy dropped the frame and headed over to Cyborg and Gauntlet.

"You ok guys?"

"I'll be fine." Cyborg said, as he finished rerouting his systems away from the Candyman slash. "I dunno about Rob though…"

"Why am I getting hurt? I'm the fun loving jokester! I NEVER get…" Gauntlet complained on the ground, holding his injured knees.

"In a horror film, that's pretty much a target on your back." Came a voice, as Raven walked up to the ground.

"Rae! You're all right!"

"I am now. The more the spell wears off, the more I can handle…which let me bounce back from that injury I healed for you Rob. Thanks for making sure you didn't get hurt again."

"Oh right miss "Sat out the whole fight"! I didn't see you coming over to play dodge the hook…"

"…yone there? Gu…" Came a sudden crackling voice, making everyone (well, save Gauntlet), jump. Then they realized it was coming from Cyborg.

"Fearless? I can hear you!" Cyborg said as he popped open his arm communicator.

"Cyborg! Go…e lounge! We're going th…haste!"

"The lounge?"

Nothing but static.

"You heard the man, let's go, and don't ANYONE wander off for ANY reason." Cyborg said, and the ground walked off.

A few seconds later, Cyborg came back, picked up Gauntlet, and carried him off as Gauntlet pestered Raven to fix him up.

"If we get to the lounge in one piece and find EVERYONE in one piece, then I'll do it."

"Oh, so now we're going to run into Luffy and his crew?"

"WHAT?"

"You said we need to find everyone in One Piece!"

Raven facevaulted.

* * *

Raven had expected a lot of things when she entered the lounge: she hadn't expected to find everyone there, waiting for them.

Everyone save one, that is.

"Where's Noel?" she asked.

"We couldn't raise him, and pardon me if I sound coldhearted Raven, but at the moment we have serious injuries." Robin said.

"No way Tim, Raven nearly killed herself a while ago, she can't…" Beast Boy protested.

"I can." Raven said quietly. "It will be hard, but it just looks like flesh wounds…I can handle flesh wounds…"

And she did, though it clearly exhausted her, as she tumbled into a chair when she was done.

"I am on break now. Anyone else has to go to a hospital." She gasped.

"If we can even leave the Tower." Beast Boy muttered.

"Don't jinx us." Gauntlet replied.

"Where is Savior? Robin, try and raise him again." Starfire asked. Robin did so. There was no reply.

"Oh no…aw no…" Cyborg said.

"This doesn't mean anything. You know damn well something's been messing with our communications." Robin said.

"But…" Scalpel said.

"Before anyone comes over here to comfort me, I don't think Noel's dead." Raven said. "If he was…I think I'd know…one way or another…so don't start drawing up the sympathy cards just yet."

"Agreed. We have more pressing matters." Robin said. "Now that we have our powers back, it begs the question: who's left? Everyone report what they saw."

The Titans started doing so, and they made it as far as Gauntlet's part in the Candyman battle when Robin interrupted him by freaking out.

"WHAT? HE PIERCED THE GAUNTLET?"

"Well yeah…"

"WHAT? Rob, you said that damn thing was virtually indestructible, an Old One artifact, something that would require a universe rending power to break! How did it get broken by the Candyman…and if it was pierced, where the hell is the hole?"

"This is a cartoon Robin! The second I went off screen, all damages to my supposedly unbreakable artifact disappeared!"

"WHAT?"

"Hey, it always worked for Wile. E. Coyote! In fact, I feel better then ever now!" Gauntlet said, as he dropped to the ground and began doing clapping push-ups.

The Titans stared.

"Nice retcon." Beast Boy finally said.

"Thanks!"

"Ok, before we break the forth wall any more…what else could be in the Tower?"

The Titans began running through possibilities…and quickly regretted it as Beast Boy's memory was still failing him in regards to what movies had been in the pile, and much like Savior earlier, they were forced to consider all possibilities…and as the list got longer and longer, the unease grew.

"Ok guys." Robin said at the end. "Despite all this, we have to think of business. This little event is so far confined to our Tower. Can it spread? Can Control Freak's remote cause an ever-widening effect? Unlike us, normal people would have no chance if THEIR films start coming to life, especially if it's something like _Godzilla_ or _Starship Troopers._"

"Or one of the Barney videos." Gauntlet suggested.

"Ugh! Heaven forfend." Raven replied.

"Right, but all joking aside…guys, I don't know what's coming next, but I know this: we can HANDLE it. But we HAVE to STAY TOGETHER."

"Agreed." Was the general chorus.

"Ok then. Whatever happens, we stay together. No matter WHAT." Robin said, as he put out his hand. All the others joined him.

"Titans, together!" Robin said.

"Together!" Everyone replied.

And then the lights went out, plunging the room into utter blackness.

The illumination returned a few seconds later, and Robin's eyes went as wide as saucers.

The lounge was empty.

He was alone.

* * *

And elsewhere…

"HA HA HA HA HAAA!"


	10. Lords and Masters

Part 10: Lords and Masters

****

**_"The king is dead, long live the king!_**

**_Or so it was said in the past days of yore._**

**_They say those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. Quite frankly, those who say so are full of shit. I have yet to encounter anyone who has learned anything._**

**_But I have learned plenty. And believe me, things will be different now._**

**_For all those who reviled and abhorred me, they never really understood why I did what I did. I wasn't on any great mission, or running on a sense of accomplishment. No. Much like them, I did what I did because I enjoyed it. That's why they tracked me down. That's why they did what THEY did. For all my supposed sins, I am not a hypocrite, unlike they, who tried to explain and justify away their crime._**

**_Perhaps that is why I was fated to return._**

**_And return, and return, and return, for all their efforts to stop me. But I was no longer a great but frail creature of flesh and blood, oh no. Now I was something else! Something powerful! Something terrible! I WAS A GOD!_**

**_And no matter how they tried, I always found my way back. And even though there were those who interrupted my fun, the bitches and sluts and whores, I always got my own back, even if it was just to come back._**

**_So they tried a new tactic. But it failed as well. I am not some mere killer who can be erased! That place is mine! My mark is scratched on it, scratched by my own hand, and no amount of blanking out and forgetting will ever get rid of me!_**

**_And in that…lies my greatest pain. I tried to make them remember…and what happened is something I'd like to forget._**

**_And now…_**

**_There is more to the world then anyone can ever realize. Even me, as I find myself here._**

**_I am not alone. I can smell him, out there, walking around. Does he even know what has happened? Does he even know what opportunities we have been granted? Of course not. He will walk until he finds one and he will try to slaughter them like the big, dumb animal he is._**

**_How did that mama's boy ever beat me? FUCKER!_**

**_But that was then. That was the past._**

**_This is now._**

**_I will deal with him, eventually. But before I do, I have to have some fun._**

**_And what a fun place this looks like. Like any dream I ever entered. But unlike those places, these young slices of meat seem to have some idea of what they're doing._**

**_But they're still afraid. I can taste their fear. And who they are makes it ever sweeter._**

**_But among the fruits, there is a particularly fresh cherry._**

**_The others have fallen, the wanna-bes and the never-weres. Now it's my turn._**

**_I'll find her. I'll sample her. I'll rip her open and show her her own beating heart. And I'll see if I can take a few of the others with me. And then, I'm putting the big dog down, once and for all!_**

**_This time, I'll be the king of the mountain!_**

**_And oh, will it be a blast._**

**_HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAA!"_**

* * *

Poor Robin. He still hasn't learned whose house he's in.

Poor, logical, rational Tim Drake, trying to figure out a realm that doesn't live by these rules. A realm where no one ever thinks it's a bad idea to take a shower after you've found a few bodies that used to be your friends. A realm where every small town had a dark secret and a hardware store. A realm where the dead don't stay dead, the living aren't alive for long, and the finality is never settled until the grosses come in.

(Writer's Note: To a certain someone, you know who you are, you may think I'm mocking you. But I'm not. Really. Really. Oh come on, do I strike you as that shallow? Oh right, the horror story.)

And a realm where people never stick together. They always find a reason to split up. Maybe they're ignorant. Maybe they're confused. Maybe they're just plain stupid. But the fact is, with rare exceptions, killers never attack large groups. They always pick people off, one by one by one. And this ALWAYS happens, because people ALWAYS split up.

And if they don't want to…then they start mishearing things, and thinking that what they misheard is a good idea.

And if they are absolutely, positively determined to not do it…well, it's gotta happen. One way or the other.

And hence Robin found himself alone again, standing stock still for a few seconds, before he jerked back in surprise.

"Ohhhhhhhhhh shit." Robin said. Perhaps NOW he is finally starting to learn.

His bo is the only weapon he has left, and he unsnaps it as he slowly looks around, wishing he hadn't lost his mask, wishing he had his night vision lenses, wishes he wasn't alone…

The floor erupted, and Robin leapt back with a scream…to find a green brontosaurus head looking at him.

"Robin! Thank god you're still here!" Beast Boy said, as his long dinosaur neck converted into his human body and he gracefully hopped forward, running a few steps in case the area around the floor proved fragile. "What the hell happened, and…"

"DON'T! EVER! DO THAT AGAIN!" Robin gasped, his face gray.

"Well sorry Robin, I mean, the lights go out, and suddenly I'm in a whole new place! Alone! I freaked! So I turned into a rabbit and listened, and I heard someone above me, and I vaguely remembered that where I was was right below the lounge, and I wasn't going to take a chance with zombie infested stairways or for the Blob to come out of the elevator…"

"Was _The Blob_ in that pile of films?"

"Uh…I don't think so."

"Good. That snowman was bad enough, I don't want to have to deal with a blob."

"Why not?"

"…It's a blob!"

"So?"

"What's so scary about a blob?"

"Maybe if you watched the movie, you'd see!"

"It's a BLOB!"

(Writer's Note: NOW I'm mocking you. Neener neener.)

"It's still a pretty nasty creature!"

"IT'S. A BLOB."

(Writer's Note: Or maybe I'm mocking myself…er, ok, enough strange notes that are probably confusing the rest of my readers, onward!)

"Who cares! We have to find the others! Again!" Robin said.

"Rob…even if we get back together, won't this just happen again?"

"We won't know until we're together. Come on! We have to move! There's some things on that list I don't want the others facing alone!"

* * *

"Robin! Robin! Where are you? Robin!!!!!!!!!" Starfire said as she flew through the garage. The sickness that she had been trying to keep at bay during this entire event was overwhelming her. The last time she had felt anything like this had been when Robin had vanished during the Apprentice incident. Starfire was not sure what was worse: not knowing what had been going on then, or knowing what was going on now.

She felt great: her wounds were fixed and her powers were almost at full charge. But that didn't matter, because Robin was out there, possibly alone, and he no longer had any weapons except his staff. And that would be no match if he ran into some of the people/things that had been on that list. She had to find him, and protect him, at least until he could rearm himself. Was she near the elevator where they had left the crate of weapons an eternity ago? Maybe she could swing by and grab something.

So she flew, keeping close to the ceiling as she disappeared into the hallway.

Never aware that she hadn't been alone, as he slowly stepped from the shadows and resumed his walk, his slight puzzlement already fading as he resumed his eternal mission. He knew they were here. They always were. So he would do what he did.

_Ch Ch Ch Ah Ah Ah…_

* * *

Raven was greatly surprised to find herself in her room.

She had a better idea about what had happened then most. When the storm had triggered this, it had not only involved the Eye of Archetypal, but Control Freak's remote. Mixing the two together was the recipe for some seriously bad mojo, and Raven knew about bad mojo. For a long time, most of her powers had stemmed from it. Hell, it had been enough to allow (temporary) damage to Robert's Gauntlet, which was pretty goddamn freaky considering how powerful its magic was.

For a lack of anything better to do, she sat on her bed and thought, also allowing herself to rest. Her powers were returning at a steady clip: she'd now shrugged off both her healing jobs. She wondered if she had enough to teleport…

Getting up, she headed for her closet.

Then she stopped.

Then she slowly raised her hands, ready and able, as she willed the door to open.

Nothing was in there. Nothing but cloaks.

Just to be cautious, Raven floated one out to her. And examined it closely before she put it on. And she left the closet door open, watching it.

Nothing came out. She sighed.

"All right girl, what now?" She asked herself. She pondered what Robin would do. Probably do a floor-to-floor search. She probably had enough juice to do one warp. She'd go up to the top floor and work her way down, and stick to the shadows if she ran into another slasher.

And hope there wasn't something worse hiding in the shadows.

Wrapping her cloak around her, Raven called on her power, and once again the darkness consumed her, this time at her wish.

* * *

Terra had no idea why she was doing this: sitting on a toilet, her knees drawn up, trying to keep her breath quiet, though she was sure that her heartbeat was as loud as a bomb and she would be found just by that. ESPECIALLY considering that her powers were back and she, in theory, could bury anything that found her under a few hundred tons of dirt.

But when the lights had gone out and Terra had suddenly found herself in one of the Titan's bathrooms…well, it hadn't exactly done her already jangled nerves any favors. She had lucked out too much already. Ghostface could have gutted her, the zombies could have eaten her, the Leprechaun could have shattered her skull rather then just giving her a concussion and a scalp wound that had turned her blonde hair red (Raven had fixed the cut but she couldn't do anything about Terra's hair, and in the moment Terra hadn't thought to rinse it). And the laws of horror films dictated that by this time most of the cast was already dead. The only possible body so far was Noel's. You couldn't help but wonder if SOMEONE would be making up for lost time.

Would she be one of the victims? She'd been a good girl in her life. Even during her time on the road, she'd never done drugs, never drank, never turned tricks. As she grew older she hadn't tried to make up for lost time. She'd had a few sexual partners…but she'd never done anything really kinky. She only drank occasionally, and she'd been drunk once and the hangover made her promise herself she'd never do it again. She wasn't pure as the virgin snow, but she was good! She deserved to survive!

Which is why when she tried to leave the bathroom and heard the footsteps she'd scrambled back in, gone into one of the stalls, closed the door, locked it, and was now sitting on the toilet, knees drawn up, hoping that whatever it was would just go away.

Silly Rabbit…

The door opened. Terra made a tiny, almost soundless gasp, but to her it sounded as loud as a scream.

Footsteps across the ground. Terra didn't dare look. She was worried if she moved at all he'd see her, find her, and then she'd die, because every horror film has to have a body count and this one's had sucked so far so there better be GENOCIDE in the last act…

"Nobody knows, the trouble I've seen…"

Terra almost had her seventh heart attack of the evening at the sudden…singing.

The sound of a sink being turned on followed.

"Nobody knows…my sorrow…"

"ROB!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Terra yelped in joy, as she hopped off the toilet and started unlatching the door…

And then a Gauntlet energy fist suddenly knocked the door off the hinges. Terra made a small shriek, even as her training kicked in and she ducked under it the flying door, rolling out into the main room and seeing a very freaked Gauntlet.

"Terra! What in the name of Mr. Christie-ACK!" Gauntlet said as Terra suddenly ran forward and leapt into his arms, showering his face with kisses. This went on for a few seconds before Gauntlet pushed her away.

"Look Tara, I'm glad to see you too, but unless you're trying to make this story take a left turn into a PWP lemon, please unlatch your legs from my waist."

"What? Oh, sorry…" Terra said, blushing deeply as she did so. Gauntlet ran his hand through his hair, and then examined said hand, checking for gray hairs.

"Tip Terra. When one is being stalked from monsters come to life out of horror films, it is NOT a good idea to suddenly yell one's name aloud when said one is not aware of your presence."

"Right. Sorry. Can we find the others now?"

"Unless you want to…"

**_LEAVE THE FORTH WALL ALONE! CAN WE GO ONE BLOODY STORY WHERE THAT WALL ISN'T ATTACKED!_**

"Sheesh, fine, let's go Terra. Someone's PMSing." Gauntlet said, as the two left the bathroom.

* * *

"Ok Beast Boy, here's the plan. My gear's been compromised pretty badly. I don't want you to have to do all the fighting if we run into someone or something. Therefore, I suggest we go down to my room. I can get fresh stuff, and be better prepared for a fight. Plus, who knows, we might run into…someone…" Robin said to Beast Boy. There were standing in a hallway, and Robin had trailed off because Beast Boy had suddenly gone pale. "What?"

"Can you hear that?"

"No, but I'll bet you can. Come on." Robin said, whirling as he got his staff ready. Beast Boy turned into a rabbit again and listened.

"What do you hear?" Robin whispered.

"Can't really tell…kind of toneless…could be tapping…or clicking…"

"Right…" Robin said, looking around him, trying to catch as much in his peripheral vision as he could.

"It's getting louder!"

"Where is it?" Robin cursed, spinning around and seeing nothing.

"Wait…tap tap, tap, tap tap tap…" Beast Boy said.

"Gar this is not a good time for games!" Robin said.

"Games? Robin…I think there's a message in the taps."

"What?" Robin said, turning around. "You mean like Morse code?"

"No…more like…'Shave…and a Haircut…Two Bits'?"

And then Scalpel dropped down from the ceiling.

The yelps weren't that loud.

"Sorry. After we…separated, I decided it would be best if I went low key and went by the ceiling. I heard you from afar and headed over…but when I arrived I realized that if I just dropped down I could give both of you heart attacks, not to mention risk an assault under mistaken identity. So I started tapping so that you'd hear me. The lack of true success can be attributed to you, you dunderheads." Scalpel said, as he pulled his glaive from behind his tattered cloak.

"Well, all things considered, at least we're finding each other." Beast Boy said.

"Oh, and I have good news! I think I may know where Cyborg is!" Scalpel said, as he turned and dashed forward.

"SCALPEL! WAIT! KEEP EACH OTHER IN SIGHT!" Robin yelled. Unlike the last time, Scalpel heard him, and stopped at the edge of the hallway. "Thanks. Now what do you mean you know where Cyborg is?"

"I heard you, but I also heard something else. Very heavy tread. Somewhere in this general area. Cyborg's the only guy who weighs enough to make that tread."

"How do you know it's Cyborg?"

"I saw some oil on the floor. That, along with the tread, allows me a safe conclusion that…"

The blade exploded from Scalpel's mid section, his words cut off in a gasp of agony. Robin and Beast Boy reared back as Scalpel was lifted off, blood pouring from his torso, as the blade sawed up, ripping up through his midsection and to his chest as the flow of blood became a shower that poured onto the carpeting with a loud hissing noise.

"Nigel…!" Beast Boy said.

"Ohhhhhhhhh shit." Robin said as he recognized the blade.

A machete.

Scalpel only knew the agony…and the slight sensation of a massive hand seizing his shoulder and shoving him off the blade, and he collapsed to the ground, giving Robin and Beast Boy a full view of him.

_CH CH CH AH AH AH…_

"Oh no." Beast Boy said.

"Ohhhhhhhh shit indeed." Robin replied.

As Jason Voorhees stepped over Scalpel's body and headed for the two remaining Titans.

* * *

Raven opened her eyes with some confusion.

This wasn't the top floor of the Tower. This was the Tower roof. She pulled down her hood to take a look around.

"Fuck." She cursed. She had overestimated herself. Her teleportation had been off. And it could have been a lot worse: she could have warped right into a solid object, which would have given her a very unpleasant and messy death. No slasher needed (rimshot).

Well, that ruled out teleporting. It would be best if she saved her energy anyway. God knows what was still out there…

A noise to her side. Raven whirled, her power at the ready.

White lines sprang up, grabbing the Tower and yanking a very torn up and generally unhappy looking Savior up onto the roof. Raven gasped a bit, though it was in surprised happiness. Her expression was mirrored on Savior's face.

"Noel! You're alive!" Raven said delightedly.

"You expected differently?" Savior said, as he landed, stumbling a bit. Raven dashed forward to meet him.

"Are you ok?"

"No. There's a bunch of would be master murderers running around this joint trying to turn us into fillet of sole. Damn no good rassn frassnnnn…" Savior muttered. "What did I miss?"

"I helped take care of the Candyman."

"The who?"

"Right…well Noel, come on, we should…" Raven said as she took Savior's arm and tried to pull him to the rooftop door.

"No wait babe, I had an idea while you and I were apart." Savior said, pulling Raven back to him.

"Offf! Noel! This is not a good time!"

"Wait wait, hear me out. You know how this shit works. Certain things lead to certain results. Wandering around isn't exactly working, you know? I think we should bring the battle to us. To do that we need a lure. And you know what lures killers better then anything else…" Savior said, wagging his eyebrows.

"What? You want to do something like that, NOW? Did whatever that happened to you scramble your brains?"

"….Actually, it may have." Savior said, his lecherous look fading as he rubbed his head. "It was a pretty bad knock. But…I still think the plan could hold water. We should at least try it."

"Well…maybe…but Noel, I'm not really in the mood…" Raven said, even as she felt the Shimmer drawing her closer.

"Hey, relax baby. I'll work twice as hard." Savior said, as he gently took the back of her head and brought her lips to his.

For a moment, there was silence, the two couples in a clinch, as Raven closed her eyes and tried to relax…

And then her eyes snapped wide open.

A few seconds later she had flown back across the roof, her hands out and her eyes fixed on Savior, who was getting up from the force blast she had fired at him…except this Savior was wearing a look Raven had never seen Noel wear and knew he never could.

"What's the matter, pretty bird?" Savior said wickedly. "Too much tongue?"

And then Savior's tongue emerged, impossibly long, and black as pitch, sticking out and lapping up and around his entire face as he started to laugh, and Raven felt her gorge rise as well as her fear as the bright white colors of Savior's outfit transmuted into dark slacks, work boots, a natty green and red sweater, and a fedora. And an impossibly hideous face.

"Krueger." Raven hissed.

"Hello, bitch." Freddy Krueger cackled, raising his taloned glove. "Tell me, you usually taste so sweet, or have you been using breath mints?"

Raven spat on the ground, trying to get that horrible sensation of Freddy's tongue rolling around in her mouth after he had tricked her into thinking he was Savior.

"Bastard." She hissed again.

"Well, yeah, pretty much. Thank you." Krueger said, giving a slight flourish. "You know, I thought you'd be different. I've met a lot of whores and sluts in my life. But I've never met anyone quite like you…you see my dear, we're alike. Both human…and demon…in one perfect package. Though I must say, you wear your perfection much better then I do."

"Human? HUMAN?" Raven said. "You weren't human when you were a mortal, and now…you're the farthest thing from humanity outside of the Lord!"

"Who?" Freddy asked. "You must forgive me, I'd a bit new in this neighborhood. Need a refresher course on what's what. Mind if I pick your brain?" Freddy said, bringing his glove up to enhance the point with his index talon.

Raven slipped her hood up as she floated off the ground, her eyes glowing in the shadows cast by the garment.

"Ohhhh, really fancy-schmacy bitch." Freddy said.

"You ain't seen nothing yet." Raven said, and she flew forward, her power crackling…

And the bars suddenly appeared. Raven recoiled as a loud clanging noise filled her ears, and then she blinked, and her eyes went as wide as saucers.

She was trapped…in a…

Birdcage.

"On second thought, I wear my perfection much better. But I'll definitely enjoy sampling yours." Freddy said, and licked his face with that disgusting tongue again.

"Wha…no, no…this can't be…I'm awake, you can't…"

"Yeah, I'm surprised too, but hey, Confucius say, better to gut little bitch now, rather then wonder why powers work in first place!"

Even though Raven was realizing it on her own. The Tower, infected by the taint of horror films, forced to follow their atmosphere and rules. Though Freddy Krueger had been shown to leave the world of dreams and enter the real world, it greatly reduced his power. But this time…he hadn't left his world. His world had been imposed on Raven's…and that meant…

"Are you going to sing for me, or should I just throw you in the oven now? Hey, great idea! I know just what kind of stuffing to put in as well!" Freddy laughed as he approached the cage. "HA HA HA HAAAAAA!!!!!!"


	11. These Men, These Monsters

Part 11: These Men, These Monsters

(Writer's Note: A nod to the author Prisionero, who helped me with this…)

For some, an introduction is needed…

Like the Fisherman, Ben Willis, who was run over by a group of partying, drunken teenagers, who, not willing to suffer the possible dire consequences of their actions, had thrown Willis's thought to be dead body into the sea. But Willis wasn't as dead as they thought, and he didn't take too kindly to what they had done…

Or Jack Frost, for that was his real name, blame the scriptwriter, who had been a vicious criminal being transferred to jail when his paddy wagon had crashed into a truck. Jack had attempted a brazen escape, until to be drenched in the contents of said truck, "genetic acid", which had melted his body right into the snow and caused him to be reborn as a truly ridiculous monster…

Or the Leprechaun…who seemed to have a different reason for showing up in every film he had. It's best not to get into the details lest you despair over the nonsense that can get made in Hollywood…

But there are those who need no introduction, except, maybe…

_CH CH CH AH AH AH…_

"Robin, what do we do?" Beast Boy asked as Jason headed for them, walking in the determined stomp that he used when he hunting his prey (He never talked and always walked. Yet he somehow always reached the hiding place first…).

"We fight." Robin said, his staff at the ready.

"What?"

"It may take a hell of a lot, but Jason can be taken out, and considering I've been expecting him to show up since I accepted what had happened here, I believe I can and will do just that!" Robin said, and charged at Jason.

Jason swung out his machete. Robin ducked and slammed his metal staff into Jason's side. The impact rang all the way up Robin's arms, much to his surprise. He felt like he had struck a rock wall. Considering Jason's ragged shirt/pants/general outfit, the clearly decomposing flesh that showed through the holes of his clothes, and his entire scalp and visible face rotted black that set off the dirty whiteness of his hockey mask, he'd expected there to be more give.

But he didn't have time to think about it, as Jason had recovered and had shifted his grip slightly as he swung the machete back at Robin at an angle. Robin dodged as he gave his staff a quick twirl and rammed the end into Jason's forehead.

The impact rang through his arms again, and Jason didn't budge from the blow. Instead, he swung his machete back, and Robin frantically ducked again, the blade slicing off a few strands from his hair. Showing speed Robin didn't think was possible, Jason again switched directions and slashed the blade down at Robin's head, and Robin rolled forward, barely getting by Jason's form and cartwheeling away in case Jason tried to slice him when he was getting up.

He needn't have worried: Beast Boy was on the attack, as he turned into a wolf, and leapt, growling, as he seized his teeth into Jason's right arm, which happened to be holding the machete.

Bad move, as one of the most wretched tastes Beast Boy had ever experienced exploded through his mouth as he sank his teeth in. It was even viler then Aberration's flesh and blood, and he would have let go immediately…had Jason not seized him by the scruff of his neck and yanked him off, tearing the flesh from his own forearm as he smashed Beast Boy into the wall, eliciting a howling whimper from the green teen. Jason swung his machete up to finish the job, and then it was Robin to the rescue as he slammed his staff across the back of Jason's head.

Jason didn't even notice. In the right way. He noticed in the wrong way, as he whirled, again showing speed that Robin didn't think possible, as his deadly killing blade slashed out and tore into Robin's chest. His armor protected him, but not enough as the flesh over his ribs was slashed open even as the force of the cut sent him stumbling backwards with his own howl.

Jason turned back to Beast Boy, who had been dazed by the force of the slam and was now lying on the floor, the debris broken off the wall from the impact strewn around him, trying to comprehend it all…

Jason swung his machete up.

"No…" Beast Boy croaked.

The blade came swooping down in a deadly descent…

And metal fingers seized it.

"Get your STINKING hands off my boy." Cyborg growled, and then he yanked, pulling the blade from Jason's hand even as he backhanded him with the other. Jason stumbled back, and then Cyborg armed his sonic cannon and blasted Jason in the chest with a full force blast, sending the monstrous revenant sliding back along the hallway.

But he did not fall, and the sonic cannon, which had caused SUV's to go crashing down the road in flipping twirls, only shoved him back several feet before Cyborg had to stop it before he overloaded the weapon. Jason immediately started forward again, as if he hadn't been struck at all. Cyborg glanced at his best friend, knew he still needed more time, and provided it as he stepped forward to meet Jason, bringing his arms up and grabbing Jason around the shoulders and neck. Jason did likewise, and shoved Cyborg with a strength that astounded him, twisting him around as he smashed Cyborg into the wall behind him. It shattered in a crash of debris and dust.

Cyborg didn't falter though, as he cranked up his systems and shoved back, forcing Jason back and smashing him through the opposite wall. Then Jason shoved back even harder, and instead of just seriously damaging the wall, this time Cyborg went right through it, tripping on the way and falling down in the next room, a bathroom. The back of his head hit the hard tile floor, dazing him.

The machete slashed down, and Cyborg rolled out of the way as it bit into the floor. Recognizing the particular washroom, Cyborg pushed himself over to the sink as Jason tried to get his weapon free. He did so within a second, and then turned back to Cyborg…

Who had retrieved the large plumbing wrench from beneath the sink and was swinging it across Jason's head. The crack rang through the whole room as Jason stumbled from the blow, even as Cyborg advanced, hammering Jason with repeated strikes to the head and chest. Jason slashed the machete at him, but Cyborg did a little jump back to avoid it and then jumped forward as he swung the wrench down, test of strength in a carnival style. The heavy iron tool BROKE over the top of Jason's head even as Cyborg caved it in a little, and the terrible being that was Jason Voorhees staggered back and collapsed to the ground.

"Yeah! Now what!" Cyborg yelled, throwing the broken wrench aside. He had something better planned, as he fired up his systems. His chest popped open, as six mini missiles armed. Jason may have been King Badass of Ass-Kicking Mountain, but Cyborg knew even HE couldn't keep going if he was in pieces.

Too bad he didn't think that Jason possessed some amount of brains, as the creature reared up and hurled his machete. It went straight into Cyborg's chest, right through his armor, as Cyborg gasped and instinctively leaned down…just as the missiles finished arming.

"SHIT!"

The missiles fired into the floor, blowing the room to hell and Cyborg through another wall. He hit the ground on his back and slid several feet before he came to a stop, smoking and moaning, sparks erupting from the thin hole left when the machete had been knocked out. Cyborg closed his organic eye as data began to stroll across his cybernetic one.

_Main power line damaged. Rerouting through alternate, system reboot in twenty seconds, movement unavailable until then._

"Come on…" Cyborg hissed through a clenched jaw.

_System reboot in fifteen seconds._

And Cyborg saw the shadow fall over him as Jason emerged from the smoking ruins, machete back in hand, as he headed for Cyborg.

"HURRY! HURRY!" Cyborg yelled at his own computer.

_System reboot in ten seconds…_

Jason came to Cyborg. He cocked his head slightly, and then he raised his machete.

* * *

The cage exploded in a blast of black power, blowing Freddy away. He bounced along the roof a bit before he came to a stop sitting on his rear, as a few bits of cage debris scattered around him. He leaned over and picked one up.

"All right Econo-Save, you just made the list!" Freddy cursed, as he got up, and looked over to see Raven floating, eyes and hands glowing. "D'OH!"

"AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS!" Raven chanted, and Freddy's glove glowed black and then was yanked off his hand.

"No! Not my glove!" He said, as Raven floated it over to her. Her right fist clenched, and the black energy crushed the weapon of death into a little ball.

"No! Ah No! Ah No! Ah well, let us move on, shall we?" Freddy said, and with a snap of his fingers his glove was back. Raven's eyes widened.

"Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye! Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie!" Freddy sang, and snapped his fingers again.

Raven disappeared. In front of Freddy was a giant pie, like any a mother would put to cool on her windowsill in a fifties' sitcom, except it was the size of a large wading pool. Freddy threw back his head and roared laughter.

Raven exploded from the crust, gasping and clawing at her face. The pie filling was hot. Make that HOT, as Raven clawed the sticky, blistering gunk from her face. A tiny bit of the frantically discarded filling landed on Freddy, and he wiped it off his shirt and stuck his finger in his mouth.

"Mmmm, cherry."

Raven pulled back her hood even as she pulled the last of the cherry stuffing off her, her skin an angry red from the heat. The pain in her eyes quickly changed to a rage as potent as her scorched skin.

"ZINTHOS!" Raven yelled, smacking Freddy with a telekinetic force wave and sending him tumbling across and right off the roof. Raven flew up and spun, pulling the rest of the cherry filling off her, and flew up again…

And suddenly found herself face to face with Freddy. Upside down.

"Hello, good miss! Jolly good time, isn't it?" He said, waving, and Raven experienced an intense sense of disorientation, as she suddenly had no idea where she was.

Freddy kicked her in her chest, and she flew and found herself tumbling back across the roof. Somehow, Freddy had warped her perception so he'd been standing and she had been turned upside down and was flying towards the ground. And why not? It was as if he was in a dream, and in a dream, Freddy could do whatever he damn well pleased.

"Not doing so well, are we…normally I don't much like a fight, but considering who you are, I expected better, Raven. Come on! I didn't go to all the trouble of reading your mind if I knew I could just pluck your heart out here and now." Freddy chuckled, as he walked over to where Raven was trying to get up. He savagely kicked her across the face and then knelt; slamming his knee into her sternum as his horrifically burned face peered into Raven's slightly burned one. "My my, you already begin to look like me. But some more work is needed. Bring on the scars!" Freddy said as he raised his glove.

Raven's eyes blazed.

Freddy yelled as her hand glowed black and thrust up, slamming into and right THROUGH his gut. A vicious blast of power sent Freddy flying away, his intestines trailing out beside him as he bounced along the roof again. And again. And again. Somehow, Freddy had become some kind of bouncing human rubber ball. It would have looked comical, except this just proved Raven would have one hell of a battle ahead.

"Girl's got guts. I just wish they weren't mine." Freddy commented, as his body crashed against the ground and went flat like a pancake. He groaned loudly as he got to his feet.

Raven had floated back to hers and watched as the child killer turned dream murderer tried to get up while at the same time prevent his insides from spilling all over the roof. He wasn't doing so well.

"Ohhhhhhh…must have eaten too many green apples…" Freddy groaned, blood pouring down his legs. Then, with a wink, and a loud slurping noise, his organs suddenly were sucked back in and he was back to normal. "Ahhhhh! Better then Pepto-Bismol!"

"ZINTHOS!" Raven yelled, firing off a black burst of power. Freddy's left leg exploded at the kneecap and flew away, prompting a yell from Freddy.

"AHHH! Not my LEFT LEG! THAT'S THE ONE I KICK OLD PEOPLE WITH!"

"ZINTHOS!" Raven repeated, as she slashed her hand out. Freddy's hat flew off, as with a loud tearing sound the top of Freddy's burned head ripped off, exposing dull bone.

"Not my scalp! I was just starting to grow hair again!"

"ZINTHOS!" Raven said a third time, and there was an even louder ripping noise. Freddy's eyes went wide, and then he groaned and leaned down, clutching a rather sensitive area that was no longer there.

"Just had to go for that, didn't you?" He muttered.

Raven lowered her arms, panting heavily from the efforts.

And then with a smirk, Freddy's leg regrew. The skin returned to his head. We can assume the third wounded area was fixed as well. With a magician-like wave/jerk of his hand, Freddy produced his fedora, which he placed on his head.

Raven's heart filled with despair. She was getting tired out, and nothing she did stuck. Freddy would just keep growing it back, and when she ran out of power…

"Look, I got you all hot and bothered. Let me come over there and give you a hand with that." Freddy said.

And then he reached over, grabbed his clawed armed just above the elbow, and yanked it off. Greenish-black blood squirted from the injury as Raven gasped.

"Let my fingers do the walking!" Freddy said, as he dropped the limb to the ground.

The hand spasmed and landed on its fingers, and then the fingers began to run, carrying the hand along like Thing's evil Twin. Raven fired a bolt of black energy at the far too animated appendage but it showed remarkable speed as it darted aside. Raven fired again, and again, but she kept missing, as the hand closed in…

And leapt.

Raven shrieked with horror as the hand was suddenly on her leg, the metal blades poking shallow holes as it scurried around her thigh. Raven twisted her hands backwards and fired, but she missed as the hand leapt from her rear to her back, scrambling around to her chest. Raven tried to seize it with telepathic energy and throw it off, but the sensation of the bladed limb messed up her concentration as the hand slipped out of her vision, and suddenly she couldn't feel it any more. She whirled in a circle, trying to find it…

And then the hand landed on her head.

Raven only managed to twist her eyes up when the fingers stabbed down right at them.

* * *

Jason aimed and struck, slashing his machete down towards Cyborg's head.

The metal bo pole exploded from Jason's stomach, one end filed down to the point so it would go through easier. The sudden presence of the pole caused the base of the machete to slam into it, stopping it for just a brief second. Jason looked at the weapon now emerging from his gut, and he turned…

"HEEYA!" Robin yelled, leaping, spinning, and slamming his foot into Jason's chest with every ounce of power he had. It was enough to push Jason away a step, as he forgot about Cyborg and slashed at Robin, who ducked under the blow, grabbed his staff, and yanked it out, backflipping away as Jason slashed the machete down where he had just been. Robin gave the staff a few twirls, and even as Cyborg's reboot finally happened and he rolled away, Robin spun the staff behind him, raised his free hand, and beckoned Jason forward.

Jason started to do just that.

And Robin dropped to the ground as a baaing ram leapt over his back and slammed his horns into Jason's chest. Jason staggered back as the ram became a velociraptor and leapt, the huge toe claw slicing a huge wound in Jason's chest. Jason almost seemed to feel it, as black ooze that might have once been blood squirted from the injury.

Beast Boy darted out as Robin leapt in, swinging his staff and slamming it into the side of Jason's head. This time, the monster's head actually jerked a bit, but his recovering was lightning swift as his machete slashed again. Robin hit the ground and did a backwards somersault away, even as a growling tiger leapt it and carved a slice of meat from Jason's side. Jason recoiled a bit, more black ooze spurting from the wound.

"Damn bitch…why won't you die…" Cyborg muttered as he started getting up…

"Victor…"

The whisper made Cyborg look down, and he nearly had a heart attack as he saw Scalpel, lying on the ground, a long trail of blood from where he had dragged himself along the ground to Cyborg.

"DAMN! Scalpel, stay down, you can't…"

"Blowtorch."

"What?"

"In your body…a blowtorch…"

"Yeah, I do, but…"

"Help…" Scalpel said. Cyborg glanced over to Jason, who was paying attention to Robin and Beast Boy as they darted in and out, as they lead him out of the room and into another hallway.

"How?"

"Just…turn it on…" Scalpel hissed, as he raised one of his metal claw hands. Cyborg darted back to the battle, and then to his teammate.

"All right, but no complaining later." Cyborg said, as one of his fingers opened. A small but intense blue flame emerged, and Cyborg held it out. Scalpel thrust his hand into it, hissing as it heated up his metal hand construct. Within several seconds the palm was glowing a dull red.

"Might want to…cover your ears…" Scalpel said as he rolled over onto his back.

"What?"

Scalpel pressed the red-hot claw right onto the grievous wound Jason had inflicted, a bellow straight from the depths of hell emitting from him as he cauterized the wound shut, the drying blood on his chest catching fire and burning him more. Cyborg was lucky he'd figured out what Scalpel was doing and covered his ears, but it still felt like his eardrums had burst. Panting, Scalpel collapsed, blood still leaking from his back, but at a slower pace. Apparently, he'd sealed shut the more serious of the two wounds…

"Go…" Scalpel whispered. Cyborg listened, heading out after Jason as the Blacktrinian took a few deep breaths, and then shoved himself up. His eyes flicked down to the door that led to the hallway where his glaive lay.

Robin had finished his latest flurry of blows to Jason's chest and was ducking away from the machete when he saw a gray form dash past him.

"Can I cut in?" Cyborg asked, as he swung his fist into Jason's face, a thunderous blow that sent Jason staggered down the hall but somehow did not damage the hockey mask. Jason recovered quickly, too quickly, and was immediately slashing at Cyborg before he could even decide what his next blow would be, as he backed up next to Robin.

"Wanna bust out the Sonic Boom?"

"I don't have any boom!" Robin cursed, indicating his ransacked and empty utility belt.

"Ok, he'll just have to feel the noise instead!" Cyborg said as his arm converted into the Sonic Cannon. Instead of a sustained, powerful blast, this time Cyborg used short, intense blasts, firing them into Jason's torso and shoulder as he headed for the two. The first three blasts knocked him back, and the forth actually knocked him down.

"You know, I don't have much left here…" Cyborg said as the sonic cannon shifted to the gatling gun. "But I'm feeling generous, so, eat up!"

Cyborg fired the last few rounds he had left as Jason started to get up. A line of gore-shooting impacts ran across his legs and body, and Jason staggered back and fell again.

"Damn. Guess it's back to basics." Cyborg said as he walked forward, Beast Boy (who had appeared behind him during the sonic cannot assault) and Robin backing him up, as Jason got up once again. By now he had been pushed to the end of the hallway, where the foyer opened up into a large square room that housed a pair of elevators.

Jason swung his machete at Cyborg, who dodged and gave Jason a hammer blow with both fists to his chest. Black blood splattered from the impact. Jason didn't care, slashing again at Cyborg, who ducked and uppercutted the monster under his rancid chin.

"Not so tough when you're not facing scared, uncomprehending teenagers, are you?" Cyborg snapped, and swung out…

Jason caught Cyborg's hand at the wrist.

And tore his whole lower arm off in a shredding of wires and cybernetics and a surprised agonized scream from Cyborg. Said surprise left him totally open as Jason followed the limb removal by slashing his machete again, ripping right through Cyborg's chest armor and carving a line from one end of his broad torso to the other. Cyborg staggered back, spasming as his systems went haywire, and then collapsed against the wall.

"Cyborg! CYBORG!" Beast Boy yelled, and then his face contorted in anger. "That's it! THIS TIME, YOU'RE STAYING DOWN!"

And Beast Boy turned into a triceratops and charged at Jason. Robin's eyes widened.

"BEAST BOY NO! YOU'RE TOO BIG A TARGET…!"

Jason swung his machete up as Beast Boy's thundering form closed it, his huge horn piercing into Jason's left shoulder…as Jason brought the machete down right on the middle of Beast Boy's head. Robin heard the terrible sound, a dull "chuock!" as metal bit into armored bone, propelled by a unbelievable strength and fury that eclipsed even the Candyman.

Beast Boy's form went still, and then he abruptly turned human again, his eyes uncomprehending, as blood ran down from the skull wound in the middle of his forehead and scalp, and then he toppled backwards and lay, limp.

"BEAST BOY!" Robin screamed. He was too far away, he couldn't reach him in time…

As Jason, not sure if his first head blow had been enough to deal with the teenager, decided frugalness was best and swung his machete back up to deliver another.

* * *

Blood spurted from Raven's hands as she got them up to grab Freddy's blades, stopping them an inch from her eyes, wincing and hissing under her breath as the blades sawed slightly into her hands, cutting ever deeper. Blood ran down her arms.

Freddy looked rather surprised.

"Well, she caught them. Everyone, give her a hand!" Freddy said, raising his arms…and then realizing he was one appendage short. "Um, what is the sound of one hand clapping?"

Raven yanked Freddy's animated limb off her head and threw/telekinetically pushed it away from her. The limb bounced over to Freddy's feet, and he reached down and picked it up, snapping it back on like he was an, uh, limb snapping back on thing.

"Come on, Baby Mama." Called Freddy, with a perfect impersonation of the King of Rock 'n Roll.

Raven's eyes glowed in black fury

"Elvis is dead! Join him, bastard!"

One of the biggest force blasts she had ever conjured, even at her peak and in top shape, launched itself from her hands and against the badly burned apparition, apparently hitting him head on.

But as we all know, when it comes to Freddy, appearances are always 100 deceiving.

And proving our theory, Freddy leapt out of the cloud left by the attack.

"Hello, love!" He cheerily cried.

It took him a while to realize Raven's eyes hadn't stopped glowing. In fact, she was once again recalling the teachings Melchior had given her before the dragon was freed. And now she was ready to use one of the most powerful ones.

"Foyu Kuyher Palumb Quytersz BALUUM!" She shouted, as black mist came out of her mouth, eyes and hands.

The mist didn't stop until it had reached Freddy…and then it was lifting him up, and then it suddenly inserted itself into the man through his nose, ears and mouth, disappearing within him.

After landing on the ground, Freddy stared at her in some confusion.

"What did you…?"

The scarred man was abruptly interrupted as his head suddenly flew off, even as his arms and legs exploded off his body and his torso was vertically bisected down the middle, the parts flying all over the roof.

Raven fell to her knees, breathing heavily, as the body parts surrounding her twitched. That spell caused her a lot of pain to conjure.

"You know…." Murmured a voice on her ear. "I'd rather you don't do that again, re-building myself from scratch is a pain in the ass!"

Raven turned around so quickly it was a wonder how she didn't break her own neck.

Freddy Krueger stood there, completely unharmed and currently polishing his claws.

"In fact." he continued, smirking at the girl. "I think I might have accidentally put my left ass-cheek on my back. Wanna check for me?" He said, sneering, his voice filled with a sick flirting tone.

Half-disgusted and half-surprised, Raven used a psychic push to get him away from her person. Strangely, it worked. Her body wracked with pain, Raven telekinetically tore strips from her cloak and wrapped them around her hands and some of her other wounds, even as she glared balefully at the bastard son of a hundred maniacs.

"You shit-eating fuck." Raven snarled, which was pretty damn out of character for her: blame it on the horror movie atmosphere.

"Please! You'll make me blush!" Freddy said, tipping his hat to Raven. That just made her even angrier, as she raised her arms.

"Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!" she yelled, as she picked up every single loose object she could find on the T-Tower and hurled it at Freddy.

Freddy didn't run or disappear, rather, he ran headlong at Raven, dodging in and out of the storm of debris and moving far faster then she thought he could, and before she knew it Freddy was right in her face, and suddenly he was leaping, time seemingly slowing down, as he raised up both his arms, his foot drawing parallel to Raven's face…

"Wait, what am I doing?" Freddy said, and stopped his Matrix parody to do something more pleasing to him: slashing his clawed arm out right across the top of Raven's chest. Raven stumbled back as blood gushed from the four lines that had appeared between her breasts and her neck. Freddy laughed and slashed again, and Raven frantically waved her hand out and threw up a shield to block the slash before she zipped backwards, away from Freddy, trying to recover.

Freddy licked the tip of his blade.

"Sweet like my momma's heart." He said.

One hand still clamped to her wound, Raven reached out with her other hand and sent a jumbled command out. Not knowing what to do, her powers reacted wildly.

Which resulted in a cone of force suddenly surrounding Freddy's head, and before he could say anything he was abruptly yanked backwards. Just his top half though, his bottom half was untouched, and the end result was Freddy literally being folded in half, his head touching his heels and then actually being pulled through his spread feet with a series of loud, wet cracking noises.

"…….Owtch." Freddy said from his new position. "I've heard of bending over and kissing your ass goodbye, but this…is the wrong angle, to say the least." Freddy said, and with another sick snapping noise his top half flipped back up and was back to normal. "You know, I get the idea you aren't very happy with me." He added, looking hurt. There were even fake tears coming out of his yellow eyes.

"JUST DIE!" Raven screamed, as she thrust out both her hands. Freddy leapt, almost daintily backwards, as claws of black energy emerged from the ground beneath him, trying to grab and crush him. After dodging several, he stopped and laughed.

"You thought my last trick was handy, watch this!" Freddy said, raising his gloved hand and then thrusting it down into the ground.

And Raven screamed as the ground erupted around her as huge blades emerged, followed by huge, brown leather clad fingers that closed around her, as Freddy laughed from across the roof and his giant hand began to squeeze her even as one of the finger blades drew close to her head…

* * *

The whirling bladed projectile slammed into the side of Jason's face, piercing right through the lower left half of his mask. He recoiled, just a bit.

Robin lowered his arm. That was his one and only emergency Birdarang, yanked from his boot and thrown as accurately as Robin could make such a quick throw. And all it had seemed to do was bother Jason…

Jason reached up, and with a snap he yanked the Birdarang out. But at the same time, a cracking noise was heard, and a part of his hockey mask broke off and fell at Beast Boy's feet, exposing part of the lower left side of Jason's face. All Robin could make out was rotted black teeth, clenched in an eternal grimace after the lips and flesh around them had long ago decayed away.

He looked at Robin.

"Come on mama's boy!" Robin yelled.

That did it. Jason forgot about Beast Boy and headed for Robin, who got his staff up. He had ONE last emergency tool, but he'd never be able to assemble it in time, so he'd have to settle for hitting Jason until he fell down. Though with just a staff, he could be at that until Thanksgiving…

Jason stomped towards Robin, passing Cyborg, who groaned/snarled and tried to get up, wires dangling from his shattered right forearm, as Jason stalked over to the Teen Wonder.

And then, with a scream, Scalpel swung down from the ceiling he was perched on and landed on Jason's back. Robin started: he hadn't seen the alien return.

But he was, and boy was he mad, as his clawed hands tore into Jason's back. Jason stopped, his head jerking up as he realized he was being assaulted from behind, and tried to turn around to get at his attacker. But Scalpel was clinging tenaciously, and the turning around just gave him more time to claw more festering flesh off Jason's back. Blood as black as pitch sprayed onto him, but he ignored it: he was totally lost in a rage as he leaned over and sank his huge fangs into Jason's shoulder. Jason jerked, as if it almost hurt, as Scalpel ripped at his body with fang and claw.

Jason got his machete up and slashed at Scalpel's head, but Scalpel, much like when the Leprechaun had been riding on him, was at the wrong angle for an attack like that to be effective, as Scalpel jerked his head away, ripping a chunk of moldy clothes and putrid flesh away. Jason tried to stab behind him, but Scalpel dodged away, as he reared back his right clawed hand and fired it forward, piercing deep into Jason's back. The clawed digits exploded from Jason's front, and black ooze squired from behind Jason's hockey mask as he recoiled from the blow.

Scalpel twisted his clawed hand and yanked it out, even though doing so forced him to release the grip on Jason's back, but he had a lot more where that came from, as he reached behind himself and snapped out his glaive.

Jason whirled around, his rotten fluids seeping from a dozen wounds, as he slashed at Scalpel. Scalpel whirled away from the blow and slashed the large blade of his glaive across Jason's arm, slicing the limb open to the black and brown tinted bone. Jason ignored it, walking forward and slashing again, but this time Scalpel flipped away, holding the glaive out as he did so so that it carved open a huge wound on Jason's right leg. Doing another flip before he stopped, his glaive in front of him, Scalpel looked with some surprise as Jason continued to stalk forward, utterly unaware of his injuries, so it seemed. Fine. Scalpel would give him something to REALLY feel.

Jason slashed at Scalpel again.

Scalpel didn't dodge this time. Instead, he blocked, testing his alien strength against Jason's terrible demonic strength. For a moment, the two were at a dead heat…and then Jason's blade won the duel, shoving past Scalpel's block and at his head…

Scalpel lost his hat as he went with the planned failure, the machete slicing it in two as he darted aside, spun his glaive, set his feet, and slashed out, catching Jason fully across the chest. Blood exploded from the wound, drenching Scalpel as he twisted the glaive away, chunks of flesh and a part of bone that might have been part of Jason's rib cage flying away.

And then Jason struck, as if he had planned a counter to Scalpel's counter, but more likely just his general unstoppableness, as he stabbed the machete out and pierced through Scalpel's shoulder. Scalpel screamed and tried to get away, but Jason was too fast, far too fast, as he reached out, his huge hand enveloping the alien's face as he clamped down and lifted Scalpel up. Jason yanked the machete from the shoulder and swung it back, preparing to spill Scalpel's guts on the ground…

And the disc flew through the air towards Jason.

And amazingly, he ducked.

"WHAT?" Robin yelled as Jason dodged his emergency explosive disc, which flew on and struck the doors to one of the elevators, blowing them to pieces and pelting Scalpel and Jason with shrapnel. Jason barely noticed, as he turned and hurled Scalpel at Robin. Though he hated to do it, Robin dodged out of the way, and Scalpel flew past him and struck the wall, sliding down it, leaving a smear of his own blood that hissed as it began to eat into the wall.

"Damn." Robin said, as Jason retrieved his machete from where he had dropped it to throw Scalpel and headed for Robin. "You really are a monster."

Jason swung out at Robin. Robin rolled away, Jason's machete slicing a chunk from the wall. Robin backflipped as he pulled out his battered staff, Jason stalking him like the devil himself. Robin dodged away from the following three slashes, the deadly blade whistling closer each time, as he tried to find an opening…

And found he had run out of room, as he took another small leap back and almost found himself falling. Jason had backed him all the way up to the broken elevator door, and had cut off his escape. Robin looked behind him, staring down into the darkness of the shaft (he could faintly see the elevator car several floors down). He no longer had his grappling hook: Jack Frost had wrecked it. He was caught between the devil and the deep open air…

Jason closed in, swung back his machete, and slashed for Robin's head.

Robin dropped his bo and leapt backwards into the shaft, the blade barely missing him as he grabbed the elevator cables. So great was Jason's maleficent power that he actually sliced through two of the four cables holding the elevator up, sparks shooting from the huge lines as the machete scraped on them, even as Robin spun around the cables and slammed his feet into Jason's face as hard as he could. The impact made his legs go numb up to his knees, but it made Jason stagger back, and Robin did another quick spin and launched himself out, trying to made it past Jason…

Jason was faster.

The machete didn't get as far as Jason planned, but it still ripped a long gash through Robin's side and interrupted his dive and concentration. Robin yelled as he hit the ground, rolling awkwardly and violently twisting the shoulder the Leprechaun had dislocated before rapping the side of his head on the ground. Stars exploded on his vision, and the world blurred around him.

Jason had gotten his machete stuck in the ground again with his last attack, but he quickly yanked it out. Robin was down and not moving, so Jason headed for him. Once again, he swung the machete up…

A huge green hand closed on his.

"No."

Jason looked at the green ape, its face bloody, as it tried to fight his descent. But the fight only lasted a few seconds before the ape became Beast Boy, his eyes woozy and his stance unsteady as he tottered back and fell against the wall.

"Beast Boy!" Robin said, and summoned a burst of adrenaline to roll over to where he was. He saw Jason's shadow falling over them, and he turned, still on his knees, his fists cocked, going to go down fighting.

"GET AWAY!"

Cyborg football tackled Jason, shoving the monster away, much to Jason's surprise. And Cyborg took full advantage of that as he pushed the curse of Crystal Lake back…

"CYBORG!" Robin yelled.

And right through the broken elevator door and down the shaft. Within a second they were gone, Cyborg's battle cry echoing out from the broken doors.

A few seconds later a terrific crash rang through the doors and hallway as they landed on what Robin assumed was the elevator car. He still jerked at the loud noise.

And then…silence.

"Cyborg! CYBORG!" Robin yelled, getting up. He became aware of movement to his left and nearly took Scalpel's head off with a punch before he realized who it was. "Nigel!"

"Brave. Stupid, but brave." Scalpel said, and looked at Beast Boy, who was still lying against the wall, dazed and confused. He frowned slightly.

"Is it serious?" Robin asked.

"Not sure…" Scalpel said, kneeling down. He had his own serious injuries, as marked by the fact he'd been holding his shoulder when he'd approached Robin and blood continued to dribble out his back and from cracks in his makeshift burn bandage. He looked at the blood wound on Beast Boy's head.

"I think that dinosaur armor saved him from anything serious. The skull seems a bit dented if anything, but he should live…unless the concussion makes his brain swell or something…" Scalpel said. He glanced at Robin. "I'll give him what I can. You'd best go after Cyborg. I don't think he can stop that thing alone."

"Scalpel, I wonder if we can stop that thing, period." Robin said, as he recalled a tossed off line…

_Do you know what makes you so special Jason? You can never die. No matter what they do, no one can ever kill you…_

"I've heard that before." Robin muttered, as he walked over to the elevator doors, retrieving his bo from their base. He leapt and grabbed the remaining cables, not worrying about them breaking (though elevators had several cables, they were designed so that just one could hold the weight of the whole elevator…and hopefully withstand the impact of two very heavy bodies crashing down on it…) and carefully shimmied down, ready in case a blade tried to leave him without a foot.

There was no blade, and almost no roof left on the elevator: Cyborg and Jason had caved two thirds of it in. Robin scanned the darkness, trying to make out any movement. He saw none, so, taking a chance, he let go and dropped down into the elevator.

It was empty.

Jason was gone.

So was Cyborg.

And the doors were pried open. Though the lights in the hallway were dim and flickering, Robin recognized the floor. It was mostly devoted to living areas.

His bo at the ready, Robin stepped out of the elevator and went on the hunt.

Though he really had to wonder who was hunting whom.

* * *

Raven struggled furiously, but Freddy's grip was absolute, his giant hand totally enclosing her. She could feel the giant blade of the index finger begin to press against her forehead, even as his fingers continued to squash her into paste.

"Hah! They say a bird in the hand if worth two in the bush…but personally, I'd just prefer your bush in my hand. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Freddy laughed. The words, and the intentions behind them, went through Raven's being like a bolt of lightning.

"AIIIIIIIIAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Raven screamed, and for a brief moment a flicker of red passed over her skin, the brief impression of two more eyes flickering across her face, and then black power tore the hand open, Freddy yelling in surprise as tendrils of black power shoved open the gigantic appendage, freeing Raven, who didn't waste any time, as she zipped over to Freddy, who had pulled his hand out of the ground, removing the giant limb from play.

"Wow, I must have really turned you on…"

Raven thrust out her hand as a tendril of black power shot from it, ripping through Freddy's torso. He yelled in pain and protest, and then he did it some more as Raven lifted him up and slammed him down into the roof, cracking the hard stone, and then up and down again, and again, and again.

"NO-ONE-TALKS-TO-ME-LIKE-THAT!!!" Raven screamed, punctuating each word with a slam, before she wound up. She didn't throw Freddy through the air: she slammed him into the ground and then shoved him violently, resulting in an erupting line of stone and metal ripping across the T-Junction as Raven smashed Freddy away from her. The line ended at the end of the Tower, and Raven floated down, and she leaned over and gasped for air. She was pushing herself too hard, making her body do things it shouldn't have tried doing when it wasn't at full strength, and as a result her power was down, her resources were down, and she didn't know how much longer it'd be until she'd be down.

"Very nice. I feel like a kid again! Or at least alive." Came a voice from the smoke, and Freddy strolled out, not harmed in the slightest, as he "rolled" his clawed hand, flexing each finger one after the other to create a wave motion. Raven looked at him in horror. "My turn."

Before Raven could react, Freddy was within an inch from her.

"You look incredibly sexy when you are terrified, you know." He muttered just before giving Raven a quick peek on the mouth.

The half-demon was so shocked, she froze on her spot, her mind numb and without a clue to what was happening.

And then the overwhelming pain struck. As soon as her brain identified the feeling, she started screaming, loud and hard. The scream was so loud it drowned out the laughter heard on the background.

Raven's brain immediately ordered her to find the source of her pain, and so she did. Jerking her head towards her right shoulder, she was struck with even greater horror at what she found: Freddy's ENTIRE clawed hand had gone THROUGH her shoulder and went in all the way to the forearm.

Raven nearly fainted.

Freddy, on the other hand, grinned insanely.

"Oh, you like it? Then prepare to be aroused!"

Once again, the perception was warped by the nightmare-man, and suddenly both of them were standing on the wall of the nearby small building that made up the exit of the stairs onto the roof.

With Raven on top. And slowly slipping towards Freddy.

She was being impaled.

For the first time of her life, Raven allowed herself to whimper silently. This was different than any kind of pain she'd ever felt before. Even when one of Scalpel's alien kind, an elite soldier called a White Hole, had shown up on earth and taken a large bite out of her shoulder…it wasn't as bad as this.

But she wasn't going to take it quietly. Violently, she thrust her right hand towards Freddy and launched him backwards, causing his arms to come out from her shoulder hole with a sickening 'pop!'.

Raven managed to float several feet away before she fell to the ground with a combination of a groan and a whimper. Slowly, she sat up and stared at her now useless right arm, from which blood now poured freely. She sighed and still sat, because she honestly had no idea of what to do now. She would probably bleed to death soon if Freddy didn't finish the job by then.

Then her anger began to return. No. She wouldn't just sit here and take it!

So she floated up…

And nearly fainted again from the combination of pain, loss of blood, and exhaustion. She could vaguely hear Freddy laughing.

"Come now! Don't fall asleep on me! We aren't even halfway done yet!" Freddy exclaimed, and then he slashed out his hand.

Invisible blades slashed through Raven, tearing through her clothes and flesh, as she flew backwards from their impact and hit the ground, her cloak in tatters and her body bleeding from a dozen new wounds. She never knew she had so much blood in her.

Freddy chuckled and walked over. When Raven tried to get up, feebly, he stomped the heel of his boot into her face.

"No one has ever fought me like you girl, but you know what they say about whores who try to play hard to get." Freddy said, leaning over, grabbing Raven's throat with his normal hand as he flicked his claw against the meat of her thigh and began tracing it upwards. "So I'll say it again. Sing for me birdie."

The green blast blew Freddy across the roof again, the scarred dream master tumbling quite a bit before he stopped himself and got back up, snarling at the interruption.

"If you want her…" Terra said, as she floated down next to Raven.

"Then you go through us." Starfire said, as she floated down on Raven's other side. A second later Gauntlet dropped down in front of her as well.

"And frankly, I don't think that's possible." Gauntlet finished.

Freddy looked at the new recruits, scratching his chin lightly with his clawed glove as if considering what to make of the three new arrivals.

The Titans all struck fighting poses, waiting for the psychopath to attack.

And so they waited.

And waited.

And waited while Freddy stared blankly at them, scratching his chin.

"Uh…" Gauntlet said, for despite the problem and situation, he was starting to get impatient "Aren't you gonna do anything?"

Freddy gazed at him instantly. His cruel grin said it all.

"I was trying to think of something original, but I now think a classic is better, so…1, 2." Freddy said mockingly, looking from one teen to another. "Freddy's coming for you."

* * *

_It's different on the other end._

Or so Robin thought as he slowly lifted his leg and took one more step, moving the distance like he was taking trench territory in World War I, his senses screaming and his brain charged with adrenaline.

Nothing happened.

Yet.

Something was due to happen eventually. And sooner rather then later. Very soon. Patience was not something that occurred in these situations.

Robin had certainly learned THAT.

And so Robin stood outside Starfire's room, banged up, torn up, bloodied, but still standing and still ready to go. In his right hand is clutched his metal bo, held out in the optimum angle of his self developed fighting style. He will be ready to bring it to use.

If he even gets to.

There is a chance he will not.

He wonders where his friends and allies are, the ones he did not see. Scattered far and wide again, despite what they willed? Are they hurt? Dead? Anything has become possible in this strange world Robin has found himself in this night.

_I should have listened to Noel. This never would have happened if we had gotten that damn security system fixed…_

Robin slowly turns, trying to look at every shadow. As mentioned, it was different.

When it happened, as normal people knew, it seemed so obvious. Behavior seemed so stupid, and fates so deserved.

But when you were actually in it…

Robin wished he still had his mask. He could have fitted in his night vision lenses in and scattered the shadows in a piercing green glare. But it was gone. And perhaps with it his chance to survive.

For the shadows hid so much. You didn't need a certain place. All you needed was the dark. The dark to conceal, until it was his time…

_I hope Cyborg's all right…_

Robin slowly reaches out and presses a button, and the door to Starfire's room slid open. Robin's slow form suddenly came alive as he dove forward, rolled, and came up, looking around.

Nothing. The darkness has even managed to mute the normal brightness of Kory's room.

He wondered if something worse blighted it.

He stood up, looking around, trying to keep his mind clear, fighting against mystical interference as well as his human instincts, which may aid him in survival but will NOT help him in this situation. Wondering where it was. Where HE was.

Wondering if he had friends now.

Trying to keep all that he has learned from another master of the darkness, his mentor, Robin took another step.

Nothing.

Robin makes no sound while moving. His breathing, very careful and regulated through his nose, makes no noise at all.

He doesn't think he sounds silent though. Like his peers, his thudding heart sounds like war drums to him. Maybe HE can hear it as well. Maybe he'd examine it first hand…

Robin started to breath in as he took another slow step.

And froze.

When he had started to inhale, his nose had kicked it, and he had smelled it.

The smell of evil. The stench of Jason Voorhees.

_CH CH CH AH AH AH…_

And the fear and fury that it awoke in Robin fired up through his being and blasted into his arms, as he starts to turn, as he starts to bring the staff up…

As the blade came slashing down.


	12. Hell Hath No Fury

Part 12: Hell Hath No Fury

Writer's Note: Once again a nod to the author Prisionero, who helped me with this. So if you're scratching your head and saying "I've never seen that thing before", it's probably because he or his friend created it.

Freddy chuckled again, as Terra and Gauntlet stepped in front of Raven, Starfire having knelt down to see if she could help the badly injured empathy.

"What is it with you kids these days? What's with the dressup?" He asked.

"Let's just say we're not like your usual victims." Terra said. Now that she had an actual foe, a face to put to her fear, she found she could move past it and fight. In the end, her imagination was far worse then any horror villain could be. It was a lesson horror directors should take more heed to…but anyway…

"What, you think you're superheroes?"

"Actually, yes." Gauntlet said.

"Oh really. Well, fine! Two can play that game!" Freddy said, and suddenly a phone booth sprung up next to him. He opened the door and jumped in, as Terra and Gauntlet looked at the sight, then each other, and then back as the door burst open.

Freddy stepped out…except now he had about a hundred extra pounds of muscle. And a black lightning bolt across his chest. And for some reason, he was now black and white like an old movie, as he put his hands on his hips and thrust out his chest.

"Faster then a bastard maniac! More powerful then a loco-madman! With a HUGE manhood to please all women! It's…SUPER FREDDY!" Freddy crowed. "Dah dah dah dah, DAH DAH DAH!"

And he thrust out his arms and flew at the two like Superman.

* * *

The angle was all wrong. There was no way Robin could make an effective block, not with Jason's strength. And if Jason could cut through stone and steel, his bo would be no match for it…

So Robin didn't block the blow.

Instead, he tilted his staff at the exact right time, Jason's machete striking it and the momentum behind the blow getting sheared off to the side, the blade sliding along the bo, sparks shooting from the trip. Robin has to let go with one of his hands to avoid losing all his fingers, even though it cost him one of his already fragile braces and forced the bo down even more as it sliced along it, the blade slipping so close to Robin's face it would have shaved him if he wasn't already clean-faced. As the machete slid off the bo and thunked into the ground, Robin finally lost his balance and sprawled on the ground.

Jason, with a motion that could also seem to be perturbed, yanked his machete from the floor and stalked over to Robin as he tried to get up. The blade slashed out again, horizontally this time, and Robin simultaneously leaned back as he holds out the bo to block.

The machete cleaved right through the weakened weapon, snapping it in two and sending Robin staggering away, bumping into Starfire's bed. With scary speed, Jason walked around the side and cut off Robin's retreat, Robin gaping at the move.

The machete slashed at him. Robin ducked and threw his body backwards, leaping over the bed as Jason turned the decapitation blow into a skull splitter, missing Robin by an inch and slashing right through the mattress and bed frame. Robin landed…and twisted his ankle, falling down with a curse.

This would have been a really good time to throw some Birdarangs at Jason to slow him down enough for Robin to get up…if he HAD any…

And Robin realized he was on the residential floor. His room was only a few short hallways away. If he could make it…

Jason walked around the side of the bed, cutting off Robin's retreat.

If he could get around a nigh-invincible psycho killer…

Jason swung down, and Robin shoved himself back and spread his legs, the machete splitting the ground two inches from his groin. He didn't take the time to do a comedic double take: instead he spun his leg around the blade and got up as Jason yanked it free again. Jason tried once more to remove Robin's head: Robin ducked and darted in close to Jason, holding the two ends of his broken bo, having already mentally switched his fighting style to Escrima fighting sticks. He rained blows on Jason's chest and stomach and then darted around and slammed both sticks across Jason's rotted back.

The swooping roundhouse slash nearly sliced Robin's head in half: Jason clearly wasn't anything more then annoyed from the blows. But Robin didn't take this as a hint and retreat. He was a teen hero, and even he had more guts then brains at times, as he dodged the slash at the last microsecond and zipped in close again, slamming both makeshift sticks across Jason's face. It knocked the monster's head to the side…and that was little consolation as Jason's giant bear paw shot out and grabbed Robin, his fingers seizing hold of the tear Jason had made in his chest armor earlier. Robin yelped as Jason hoisted him up like he weighted nothing and stabbed the machete at his head.

The blade cut open Robin's ear as he jerked his head to the side. The Teen Wonder didn't take the time to ponder his injury, as he swung his body up and rained stomping kicks on Jason's face and chest, both attacking and asserting leverage as his chest armor finally tore off in Jason's hands. Robin hit the ground and rolled back as the machete splintered the floor where he had just been, and as Robin came up he noticed that one of his sticks had the pointed end he'd carved on his bo several short minutes ago. He gave it two seconds of thought, and then as Jason yanked his machete free, he decided, dropping one stick as he reared back his arm and hurled the other.

The pointed end went right through Jason's right eyepiece.

Jason recoiled, black liquid squirting from the injury, clawing at the weapon and yanking it out as more ooze ran down the front of his mask. He looked at Robin, and this time Robin could sense more then just a murderous desire. Now he could sense anger as well.

And he was completely out of weapons. It was down to his hands and feet.

Robin and Jason observed each other.

Then Jason started towards Robin, unhesitating, unwavering, unstoppable.

* * *

Terra was ready: she had a battalion of rocks floating off the edge of the Tower, and as Freddy swooped at her and Gauntlet she used them, the boulders and stones flying past them and hammering Freddy…who didn't even flinch. Terra leapt out of his way and shrieked as his claws slashed out and sliced her upper right arm open to the bone, and then Gauntlet's yellow energy slammed into him. It didn't knock him away, but it did stop his charge in front of Gauntlet.  
"Take this!" Freddy said, glaring at Gauntlet…and then as Gauntlet goggled at the sight, purple…things appeared in front of Freddy's face and then fell to the ground. Both Gauntlet and Freddy looked down at these objects: to Gauntlet they seemed to be some kind of vegetable.

"DAMN IT! I told those bastards HEAT vision, not BEET vision!" Freddy cursed.

Gauntlet seized this opportunity to form a yellow energy baseball bat and gear up for a home run swing. Freddy looked up just as Gauntlet struck: THIS blow sent him flying, as Freddy crashed back into the phone booth and the door slid closed.

"You all right?" Gauntlet asked Terra.

"Fucker!" Terra spat. Gauntlet took that as an a-ok.

"You bastards! I'm gonna…!" Freddy cursed as he stumbled back out of the phone booth…and looked down to see he was now wearing a suit, glasses, and carrying a note pad. "Ah nuts! Stupid Association of Hero Rules…"

Terra dropped a five-ton boulder on Freddy with a resounding crash.

"Don't think that's it." Gauntlet said.

"Please, even he can't…"

The boulder rolled aside, and Freddy leapt up.

"You fuckers are gonnna-WHOA!" Freddy yelped as a gust of wind suddenly caused him to flutter away to the side, and Gauntlet and Terra realized he was as thin as paper. Freddy managed to grab the edge of the boulder to stop himself, and then, grumbling, he stuck his thumb in his mouth and began blowing. After several seconds of this, and with a loud pop, he was back to three dimensions.

"Ok, now I'm gonna…"

The Gauntlet energy bludgeon and another large boulder smashed into him, sending him crashing backwards into the huge rock as it cracked in half. Terra waved her hand, and the gigantic stone broke apart into a thousand rock daggers, which she fired into the general area where Freddy was.

"You know, he should have his own cartoon show." Terra said, hands still glowing and ready for another round. "He would easily blow Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse away."

Freddy slowly got up and shook his head hard as his pupils swirled around like tennis balls, proving Terra's point.

"Yeah right, see how only little kids find him scary any more." Gauntlet added.

"Oh yeah?!?" growled Freddy. "Well, if you don't like me as an opponent, maybe I should give you someone that would earn more respect from you fucking kids!" He snarled as his clawed started glowing black.

"I'm not gonna like where this is going, am I?" Gauntlet muttered to Terra, who just continued staring at the Nightmare Master.

"Oh no!" Laughed Freddy. "YOU ARE GONNA WET YOUR PANTS!"

And he roared with laughter, as a hole on the sky opened above the group as a slimy black… thing oozed its way to the outside world, and managed to fall/splatter all over the roof.

After a little while, the thing 'stood' up and was revealed to be a black sludge monster.

But not just any black sludge monster.

"Holy camoley!" Rob exclaimed in horrific amazement. "It's Mortimer!"

And true enough, the monster dubbed 'Mortimer' by Gauntlet, who the Titans had fought two times already (or was it three, or maybe four…) was back and already getting right back into the spirit of things, as he was currently throwing his own regrowing arms at the teens.

Shocked, but still alert, they all dodged the oozing substance, though Starfire had to carry Raven. Terra went on the offense and threw gigantic chunks of rocks towards the creature. The rocks just passed through its body.

"I knew that was gonna happen." Terra groaned

"HAHAHAAHAHAA!!!!" Laughed Freddy, who was comfortably sitting on a couch eating popcorn. "How do you like me now, new blood?"

"STARFIRE!" Yelled Gauntlet. "HEAT! NOW!"

The orange alien didn't need to be told twice as her Starbolts crashed against the now charging Mortimer.

Which only managed to slow him down slightly.

"Crap." Gauntlet cursed, forming a shield for himself, preparing to receive the full impact of Mortimer's charge…and probably forgetting that the monster absorbed any solid objects that collided with it.

And so it did, trapping Gauntlet within its body.

"Ooooooooh!!!" Freddy started clapping. "Time for the finale already?"

"NO!" exclaimed the other two girls (Raven was still a tad bit dazed).

"He'll suffocate!" Terra yelled as Starfire flew up and swung down with Starbolts ready to free her friend.

"ROBERT!"

Until she realized Gauntlet was smiling.

"Huh?" Starfire said, stopping dead.

And then Gauntlet actually ATE his way out of Mortimer. He gasped slightly when he finally got out.

"Guys!" He called out. "It's made of Jello!"

The girls goggled at him.

"WHAT?!" yelled Freddy, jumping out of his seat and taking a taste of Mortimer himself. He looked incredibly disappointed with his result. "Crap… Grape Jello."

"Well… that was incredibly pointless." Terra murmured. Starfire couldn't find anything to say. and Gauntlet was too busy licking the Jello off his fingers.

"Oh, shut up, stick girl!" Freddy growled, clicking his fingers. Mortimer disappeared behind a black cloud.

"Please feel free to bring him back, I'm still hungry." Gauntlet grinned.

Freddy's face was going slowly red.

"OH YEAH?! WELL I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY TO EAT THIS!"

Another black hole opened as a figure descended from it slowly.

Both Terra and Starfire glared at their male friend.

"You just HAD to say something, right?" asked Starfire, sounding strangely testy.

"Er… sorry?" Gauntlet replied.

Then Marissa "Eyesore" Mori, landed in front of the Titans. Helmet ready.

Somewhat.

"No, NO! WAIT! WRONG WAY!" Freddy yelled, jumping around and evading the deadly beams coming from Mori's helmet.

Said helmet was backwards, pointing at the Nightmare Apparition instead of his adversaries.

An anime sweatdrop appeared on all the Titan's heads.

"See? Cartoon show, I tell you!" Terra commented.

"I'm beginning to agree." Starfire replied.

"Ok, ENOUGH!" Roared Freddy. Marissa disappear behind a black cloud. "Well… third time's the charm!"

Cue black hole opening.

The Titans went into a defensive position, just in case.

They all gasped when they saw who was coming down this time.

A female version of Nigel was now in front of them. Her short black hair calmly blowing with the wind and her yellow eye (she only had one, the other was an empty socket) focusing on her prey.

Rebecalnatrac Styilnifanalan, Rebecca Styles, the "White Hole", greeted them with a fanged smile.

And a peace sign.

Also, she wasn't wearing her usual armor. Instead she had a shirt with lively colors, jeans, a necklace with a strange symbol in it and a body odor strong enough to kill an elephant.

She was a hippie.

"God, I wish Nigel were here to see this…" Gauntlet said, fairly amused by the sight, while Terra laughed so much, she fell off her rock.

Freddy was perturbed.

"Er… attack?" He asked, hoping.

"No way man!" Answered the White Hole "War is wrong, man. We must be at peace and in freedom."

"FUCKER!" Freddy yelled, banishing her as well "Ok, ok, ok! This time I WILL get it right!"

The Titans just rolled their eyes sarcastically.

"Damn kids." Freddy mumbled as another hole opened.

And the Lord of the Night fell out.

The Titans froze at the cold stare the newcomer was giving them.

And they knew Freddy had got HIM right.

* * *

Robin ran up the wall, spun, and slashed out with a roundhouse that slammed across Jason's face. The monster staggered back, and then looked at Robin with a perturbed look, as if asking why the teen was still alive.

"Come on. I'm not afraid of you." Robin said.

Jason came for Robin again, slashing repeatedly. Robin did repeated backflips, bounced up to the wall, and shoved himself off of it, flying out and slamming into Jason with both feet. The creature staggered back again, going out the open door of Starfire's room before he hit the wall…

And then the lights outside in the hallway shut off completely. Jason vanished into the shadows.

Robin recoiled slightly, and then he started looking around the dimly but still lit room that they had been fighting in. He knew the horror movie rules: once a monster has vanished from sight, it can appear anywhere.

Flexing his fingers, Robin stepped in slow circles, trying to look everywhere at once. He sniffed, trying to catch Jason's scent.

Movement from the shadows!

Robin leapt up, slashing out his leg…

And Beast Boy dove to the ground with a yelp. Robin started with recognition and interrupted the move, landing on his feet.

"Gar!"

"Gee! With friends like you, who needs slashers?" Beast Boy complained, looking up, his green hair still stained with his blood.

"Sorry. Are you ok?"

"Well, provided I don't get hit in the head any more. Apparently there are still a few surviving brain cells." Beast Boy said, rubbing his head.

"Where's Scalpel?"

"He's pretty cut up. Didn't want to risk jumping down the elevator shaft. He left to find some stairs. He knows what floor we're on…" Beast Boy said, and then he suddenly turned around.

"What?" Robin said.

"Oh, I just expected an interruption, in the form of a deadly weapon strike. Where's Cy?"

"I don't know. The bad thing is, I don't know where Jason is either."

"D'oh. I guess we have to go find him then." Beast Boy said. "Do me a favor, carry me."

And he turned into a turtle.

"No dice. Turn into something that can move. And has night vision." Robin said. Beast Boy groaned and became a bat. A few sonar shrieks demonstrated that there was no one in the dark hallway, and the two cautiously made their way out into the darkness and headed for the lit patch they could see in the distance.

"So what do we do when we find Jason?" Beast Boy asked.

"I'm out of weapons and hitting him has proven useless. You'll have to handle it."

"How?"

"I don't know, turn into a T-Rex and eat him!"

"Oh please, UECK!"

"Aren't we squeamish, you ate Grave's zombies!"

"I merely chewed in self defense! I never swallowed!"

"Well…"

A noise from in front of them. Beast Boy became a bear and Robin struck a combat pose as their eyes followed the noise…

Coming from Cyborg's room.

"Hey! I think we found Victor!" Beast Boy said, becoming human again.

"No! Cyborg never leaves his door open when he's not around! It could be a trap!"

"Dude, Raven and I were here earlier, remember? It's where the Orb of Archetypal was!"

"Oh. Right. Ok, but let's call him first." Robin said, and drew in some air.

He was cut off by a strange noise, an odd mechanical growling rumble.

"What?"

The noise again. This time, Robin recognized it.

"OH SHIT!"

The noise once more as it swelled into a vicious buzzing roar…and then Jason stepped from Cyborg's room, the large chainsaw he had located from Cyborg's workshop snarling angrily at the two.

"Heh. You know, the funny thing is, despite the whole concept of a chainsaw maniac, Jason never actually used a chainsaw in any of his films." Beast Boy said weakly.

But as Jason stepped forward, the chainsaw screaming, it was very clear that he was willing to finally indulge in the cliché.

* * *

"Now!" Freddy said, as he addressed his new creation, grinning wickedly. "Slaughter those miserable kids!"

The Lord smirked and unsheathed his katana

"Come, children. Time to join the night."

A wave of panic went through each of the teens' minds. If Freddy had accurately called a representation of the Lord, they knew they had no chance. The Lord had faced dozens of FRESH superheroes and emerged victorious.

"Because this is the end Titans. No more blocking out the past so you can think you've escaped it so you can get some sleep. No more losing yourself in brief sexual releases or chemical-induced pleasure states. This was always your destiny, and you cannot ever escape it. No one can escape what is meant to be…"

Freddy and the Titans blinked as the Lord spoke.

"They could not escape when the Huns rode roughshod over Europe. They could not escape when Genghis Khan massacred all before him. They could not escape when Hitler emerged and blitzkrieged all his foes into dust. And you had not escaped what I started, you never did, you never will…"

"Yes, that's all very good, but can you…?" Freddy said.

The Lord continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "There is no escaping destiny, there is no escaping what must be, there is no escaping the night…"

"Dude, can you kill us already?!" Gauntlet asked.

Once again, the Lord ignored him. "There is no escaping the cleaning this planet needs, there is no escaping the need to finally place history's trash in their rightful garbage bins, there is no need to…"

The Titans were falling sleep.

"There is no need for caffeinated water, there is no need for an ice cream flavor named Cherry Garcia, and there is no need to pause the "Homer Badman" episode of the Simpsons and go frame by frame through the list of corrections Rock Bottom made, which, by the way, are "People's Choice Award" is America's greatest honor, Styrofoam is not made from kittens, the UFO was a paper plate, the nerds on the internet are not geeks, the word cheese is not funny in and of itself, the older Flanders boy is Todd, not Rod, Lyndon Johnson did not provide the voice of Yosemite Sam, if you are reading this you have no life. Roy Rogers was not buried inside his horse, the other UFO was an upside down salad spinner, our universities are not hotbeds of anything, Mr. Dershowitz did not literally have four eyes, our viewers are not pathetic, sexless food tubes, Audrey Hepburn never weighed 400 pounds, the "Cheers" gang is not a real gang, salt water does not chase the "thirsties" away, licking an electrical outlet does not turn you into a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger, cats do not eventually turn into dogs, bullets do not bounce off fat guys, recycling does not deplete the ozone, everything is 10 fruit juice, the flesh eating virus does not hide in ice cream, Janet Reno is evil, V8 juice is not 1/8 gasoline, Ted Koppel is a robot, Women aren't from Venus and Men aren't from Mars, Fleiss does floss, Quayle is familiar with common bathroom procedures, Bart is bad to the bone, Godfrey Jone's wife is cheating on him, the Beatles haven't reunited to enter kick boxing competitions, The "Bug" on your TV screen can see into your home, everyone on TV is better then you, and the people who are writing this have no life…"

"SHUT UP!!!!!!" Freddy bellowed as the Lord left in the cloud. "DAMNIT! Ok, THIS time I'll get it right!" He assured the Titans.

Who were sleeping.

"WAKE UP!!!!!" shouted Freddy furiously, as another hole opened…

And a gigantic (almost the size of the entire island) dinosaur-like creature made its way from it.

"Who the hell is that?" Asked Rob in amazement.

"I DON'T KNOW, BUT HE'S GOING BACK! HE'LL WREAK THE PLACE!" exclaimed Freddy, trying to push the creature back to where it came from…and finding he couldn't.

"HAHAHAHAHA!!!!" roared the creature, as he made his way closer to freedom. "YOU CANNOT CONTROL DEMOGORGON! I WILL DESTROY YOU ALL!"

Freddy looked horrified, which only meant one thing: this creature, Demogorgon, was right.

The Titans instantly went into the offensive, shooting their abilities at the creature, who made no notice he actually felt them.

"PREPARE TO HAVE YOUR WORLD DESTROYED!" Roared Demogorgon, bellowing laughter.

"We cannot stop him!" yelled Starfire.

"NO!!!!!!" Terra was hysterical.

And then the creature stopped.

"WAIT." It said. "I'M NOT READY FOR THE ARMAGEDDON YET!"

Suddenly, Demogorgon pushed himself back into the hole. "BE PREPARED, TITANS! I'LL BE BACK WHEN THE GREAT LIZARD COMES!"

And then he was gone, just like that.

"…Great lizard?" Gauntlet said. He was extremely confused.

Freddy was worse.

"What the fuck?" He said, and then he shrugged it off. "ANYWAY! This one WILL work!"

Cue yet again ANOTHER Black Hole.

"DAMNIT! Don't you learn?!" Terra yelled.

The new enemy was a woman again. Roughly 5 feet 7 inches tall, her skin was pure white, her veins showing up as black against the white backdrop. She wore what appeared to be some form of armor that fit almost skin tight over her upper body, with the exception of the joints. Her lower body was covered by a long, flowing skirt. though the same armor seemed to follow down her legs, almost as if the armor has been placed over her clothing.

The all-mighty Sorceress was back once again.

Also, she was sleeping.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Yelled Freddy. "WAKE UP, YOU MYSTIC BITCH! WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP!!!!!!!!"

Freddy transformed himself into a bell, an alarm clock, a bucket filled with water, a rooster, and a full marching band. And he failed miserably.

"Aw, damnit…" He cursed, sending the Sorceress back.

Meanwhile, the Titans were working on a strategy, completely oblivious to the fact that sleeping beauty was gone. In the process, Raven had bit the bullet and allowed Starfire to close up her serious shoulder wound…much in the way Scalpel had closed his injury. Her agonized scream had been lost in Freddy's attempt to wake up his sixth failed summoning in a row.

"DON'T YOU DARE IGNORE ME!!!!" Freddy yelled, getting their attention. "This next one is a real winner! A REAL WINNER, I TELL YOU!" He added as the now familiar black hole opened.

And a small girl fell out

The Titans stare at her confused.

The newcomer was a brunette, with long gold streaks coming from every other place on her hair. Her white skin looked soft and delicate, as her empty dark blue eyes stared around as if she were lost. She wore hiking boots plus tight jean shorts that looked more like underwear than normal clothes, and a tight white tank top to match.

She was quite busty and… 'gifted'.

Also, she had a thick slutty air around her.

But she did not look like a villain.

"Er… who is that?" Terra asked, at the same time she elbowed Rob, who appeared to be in a drooling trance.

"I don't know, but I think our author handed the reigns over to another author for a few paragraphs, and I'm glad of it!" Gauntlet replied. Terra sighed and cast her eyes to the heavens, as if she was asking questions.

"Ok, fine, but WHO IS THAT?" she finally said.

"Beats me." Freddy answered, admiring her from er… behind. "She was in THEIR memories." He added, pointing to Starfire and Raven, who was still resting. "It was something deeply suppressed or some shit… Anyway, hey you! Exodus, right?"

The girl turned to face him, confirming it was her name. Freddy pointed at the Titans.

"Kill them."

Exodus turned to face the Titans for a minute.

And then she suddenly appeared right in Freddy's face, making him jump back in surprise.

"Anything for you, sexy." She murmured with a honeyed voice. This only made her slutty air mentioned earlier more noticeable. "But why don't you play with me first?" She added, fingering the monster's chest.

The Titans stared, not believing their eyes. This girl liked Freddy Kruger. Hideously deformed, horrifically minded, child murder Freddy Krueger.

"Yep, definitely another author." Gauntlet said.

Freddy himself was amazed, but he liked it

"Yes… well… er… First you need to get the kids."

Exodus simply continued smiling. "What's the matter? Don't you wanna fuck me?"

Everyone on the room widened their eyes.

And if THAT wasn't bad enough, suddenly the room filled with sounds of woman moaning in pleasure.

"I'm REALLY horny." She added.

"Ok, that's enough, can OUR author come back now please?" Terra asked.

"Uh…" Freddy was shocked, and suddenly Exodus too disappeared in a black cloud. "I… er…" He muttered, looking at the Titans "I'll save her for later."

The Teens just blinked.

"Alright then!" Freddy exclaimed. "This next one will REALLY gi…"

He was cut off by a giant rock slamming him across the roof.

"I'm not looking to relive something like that again!" grunted Terra, and rained another storm of boulders on Freddy's form. "Hey, I guess our author is back."

"Good, U suppose, but she's letting me down. Or maybe It's Freddy. It's a pity such a great horror villain has been reduced to such a bitch." Gauntlet said.

"A BITCH!?!??!?!?!?"

Freddy leapt out of the smoke, unharmed and ANGRY: His burns had become even more gruesome, his entire head tinted red.

"YOU FUCKING LITTLE PRICK! I WAS DOING THIS WHEN YOUR CREATOR WAS A SPARKLE IN HIS DADDY'S EYE!" Freddy roared, and slashed his glove at the ground. Blades suddenly erupted from the roof and slashed along the surface, seven foot lines of ghastly death, which Gauntlet and Terra barely avoided by leaping to the side.

Freddy was there, slashing at Gauntlet with a snarling bellow. Gauntlet formed the energy into a shield to ward off the slash. Stones smashed into Freddy's body, but he barely noticed as he roared again and turned towards Terra, rearing back and slashing out his arm. It extended like Mr. Fantastic, and Terra shrieked as the clawed hand caught her across the face, laying her cheek open to the bone and sending her flying. Gauntlet had rolled away by then and thrust out his weapon, sending a barrage of hammers and blades at Freddy, but he snarled once more and waved his hand towards the ground, and fire erupted around Gauntlet and enveloped him. Freddy laughed maniacally…and then Gauntlet flew from the flames, being carried by Starfire, who carried Gauntlet up into the air as Gauntlet formed a massive bludgeon and brought it down on Freddy's head, squashing him flat.

Stumbling, her body still aching and burning from her own injuries, her right arm still limp at her side, Raven went over to Terra, who was more preoccupied with keeping her face together then getting up. Instinctively, Raven reached out, and while she couldn't completely heal the wound she at least stopped the bleeding.

Freddy got up, his skin back to "normal", as he brushed himself off and retrieved his hat from the ground. He turned to look at Starfire and Gauntlet, who had retreated to plan another move.

"What's wrong, anyway? I'm not hip to you? Too 80's, you think?" Freddy said. "Hey, I'm timeless! Anything you can do, I can do fine! Here, I'll show you! 'Cause I'm hip! I'm 'happening'!"

A DJ scratch table was suddenly in front of Freddy, who was suddenly wearing bling-bling and a cap as he put on some headphones and reached down onto the record players.

"Oh no please don't…" Gauntlet said.

"Hey! Hey! I'm Freddy Krueger and I'm here to say, I'm here to make you all DOA! I have some big claws, and I have…a lot of fun…" Freddy rapped, clearly having no idea what he was doing.

"Oh god, the HORROR! THE HORROR! THE 'MICHAEL-JACKSON-SEXUALLY-MOLESTING-LITTLE-BOYS' RATED HORROR!!!!!" Gauntlet wailed.

"I'M NOT _THAT _BAD!" indignantly yelled Freddy as the scratch table made almost ear-tearing noises "Wait wait, I can do this-ACK!" Freddy yelped as his clawed hand got jammed in the record holder, yanking him off his feet and spinning around in a circle. "AH! JUST A SEC! I'M A LITTLE TIED UP HERE!"

"This is NOT happening, this is NOT happening… please just kill me now." Gauntlet said, his face buried in his hands.

Freddy freed himself and tried to DJ again, except this time all he produced was a horrid metallic shrieking.

"Ah shit!" Freddy said, reaching down and pulling a mangled CD from the spinner. "And who decided it would be best to replace records with these things?"

A Starbolt blew a hole in Freddy's chest. He looked down at it and then at Starfire.

"Fine. These may suck dick for music but they have SOME use!" Freddy said, and hurled the CD at Starfire. She dodged aside on principal, but it's a good thing she did as the CD brushed her side…and drew blood. The edges were razor sharp.

"Did I mention I always fall for those Get 12 CD's for a Penny offers?" Freddy laughed, and snapped out his arms as he began firing CD's at the two at high speed. Starfire flew up to avoid them as Gauntlet shielded himself, and then Raven floated down, her one working hand forming temporary shields before she smashed Freddy with a black power bolt, sending him tumbling across the roof again.

"The bitch is back, I see." Freddy said as he got up. "Fine. What do you teenagers like to do these days? Oh, I know! You like all that shit that comes from the Japs! Ok!"

And suddenly Freddy was wearing a red gi.

"Damnit!" Gauntlet cursed. "Another Dragon-Ball Z wannabe! Savior was enough for a lifetime!"

Had Raven been in better condition, she would have smacked him.

And then Freddy bent his knees as he brought his hands together.

"KRA…….KA…….TOA……AH….HAH!!!!!!!!!!!"

And Freddy fired a gigantic blue blast of energy that enveloped the whole roof in front of him, vaporizing everything in his way.

* * *

Jason advanced on the two Titans, his chainsaw snarling as wildly as any rabid animal, as Robin struck a combat pose because he had no idea what else to do, and Beast Boy hung back, the noise giving him a headache due to his badly battered skull, as Jason stalked forward…

It's strange that we use the analogy of a rabid animal, because just then, the chainsaw did what rabid animals eventually do.

It died.

Silence.

Jason cocked his head and looked at the chainsaw, clearly surprised. Robin and Beast Boy stared at it themselves.

Jason reached down, grabbed the cord, and tried to start the device up again. It growled a bit and then went quiet. Jason yanked on the cord again. Growl, die.

Slowly, a smile began to spread on Beast Boy's features, as Jason yanked at the cord, again and again. But the chainsaw just wouldn't start.

"Hee hee hee…" He chuckled. He couldn't help himself.

Furious, Jason hurled the chainsaw away, the failed device crashing onto the floor several feet down the hall, as he turned towards the two Titans, who were no longer quite so amused.

"I think we made him mad." Beast Boy said.

Jason reached down and pulled the machete from his leg (what, did he have a sheath on it, or had he just stuck in into the limb until he needed it?). Next to him was one of those fire safety panels buildings had: Jason's other hand smashed out, shattering the glass as he reached into the panel and pulled out the fire ax.

"Yep, we definitely made him mad."

Jason stormed forward, swinging his deadly weapons: Beast Boy became a hawk to avoid the slashes as Robin ducked and dodged, and then hammered several punches into Jason's sternum before flipping away from a double weapon downward chop. Beast Boy flew low to the ground and turned into a komodo dragon, his huge form filling the hallway. Robin played off it by running at Jason, who slashed at him with the machete and then chopped at him with the axe, missing both times as Robin dodged past him, and then Beast Boy stamped forward and sank his teeth into Jason's leg, ripping at the knee and thigh while trying not to vomit at the taste. Jason recoiled, and then swung his axe at Beast Boy's head: it missed, as Beast Boy had become a fly and flown away, and then Robin leapt and slammed his foot into the back of Jason's head. The madman stumbled forward, but he held onto both weapons, and he swung backwards, too fast for Robin to dodge. The only thing that saved him was the fact that the axe was facing the wrong way and Jason couldn't turn it around, but getting slammed in the side of the head with the blunt side of the axe still sent him crashing into the nearby wall, knocked senseless as pretty colors exploded on his vision.

Beast Boy flew back a dozen feet and became a rhinoceros, charging headlong at Jason, his horn piercing into Jason's chest and driving him back. More ooze that may have been blood once leaked from Jason's hockey mask, as he stabbed the machete at Beast Boy's eye: Beast Boy became a mouse this time, and nearly got stepped on by Jason before he ran away. He returned to human form…

And Jason hurled the axe.

Beast Boy did the only thing he could in time: he became an ape and brought his arms in front of him. The axe bit deep into his left forearm, and Beast Boy bellowed, but he was able to grab the axe with his other hand and hurl it back at Jason, the blade chopping right into the middle of Jason's chest. Beast Boy became human again, holding his bleeding arm…as Jason reached down and yanked the axe from his form.

"Oh sugar." Beast Boy said, as Jason stalked towards him.

And behind Jason, an arm reached from the shadows and slowly dragged the chainsaw into them.

Beast Boy darted past Jason as a house cat, nearly losing all his nine lives at once courtesy of Jason's machete, and dashed into Cyborg's room. He ran over to Cyborg's private tools closet, which ironically was right near the workshop where Jason had stolen the chainsaw. Why did Cyborg need a chainsaw anyway? Well, he did do some things with wood sometimes, maybe he needed…

Jason's shadow fell over him. The monster was already in the room…and the closet was locked and protected by a password, which was…

"Please be password, please be password, please be password…" Beast Boy said as he keyed in the code…

The buzz indicated he was wrong. Beast Boy's heart sank. He was stuck between Jason and a tough lock.

* * *

"HAH! How do you like THAT, you little fucks?" Freddy yelled, waving his hand at the scorched roof before him.

"Not a half bad execution."

Freddy stopped his hand waving at the voice, and then turned around to see that Titans were now behind him.

"However, you took so long to do it, that we had the time to move behind you." Gauntlet said.

"WHAT?"

"Hey, you expected us to stand still? Wait, don't answer that." Gauntlet said.

Starfire did her talking with her fists, as a barrage of Starbolts assaulted Freddy. He staggered , coughing, out of the smoke, and then Gauntlet and Terra uppercutted him with a combined artifact/rock pillar attack, sending him high into the air.

"Fucking superheroes." Freddy said in mid-air, scratching his chin. "Not like that gun kid. What can I do…"

Black power seized him.

"Ah shit."

Raven slammed Freddy into the Tower roof so hard the whole building shook.

"Will that do it?" She asked.

"No." Gauntlet said. "If this place is such that Freddy can act like he's in a dream, we're in a LOT of trouble: Freddy's GOD-LIKE when in a dream."

Terra looked like she didn't need to hear that.

"However, we can beat him…we just need the right tact…but fortunately Freddy has one major weakness…"

"Ok, THAT'S IT!" Freddy said, as he emerged from the smoke, now in a boxing outfit, blades at the end of his gloves. "No more Mr. Nice Psychopath/Monster/Abomination/Thing!"

Freddy dashed at the Titans, who scattered. Starbolt fired off another barrage of Starbolts, while Terra used more rock daggers: Raven was carrying Gauntlet away with a black tendril and couldn't attack.

"Come down here so I can gut you bitch!" Freddy yelled at Terra. Terra's response was to break off a chunk of her floating boulder and hurl it like a bullet at Freddy's head. Which it appeared to do…until Freddy's head popped back up like a turtle's.

"Fuck." He said. "Ok then. If you can't beat them, join them!"

And Freddy turned into a fat puffball creature who anyone familiar will Nintendo would recognize…if you looked past the fact that it was covered with Freddy's burned skin and had his face. Freddy opened his mouth and began to inhale, and Terra shrieked as she was drawn in.

"TERRA!" Starfire said, flying in to help her friend…only to get grabbed by a Raven energy field.

"Don't! You'll just get sucked in too!"

"But Terra!"

"Too late." Raven said, as Terra disappeared, wailing, into Freddy's mouth.

And strangely reappeared behind him, looking stunned. With a quick flash, Freddy was himself again…except he was now wearing Terra's outfit.

"GAG!" he gasped, yanking at his shirt. "How do you breathe in this?"

Terra's response was to send a horde of rocks flying at Freddy.

Who waved his glove and met her horde with another, a massive explosion of dust pluming between the two.

"Huh. Not bad. And the outfit _does _make me feel pretty…" Freddy said, looking at his glove. Rocks flew in around him, attaching to his arm, and when Terra emerged from the smoke, Freddy had a brand new arm…twenty feet long and five feet wide.

"Well, I guess that shows I still know how to rock!" Freddy said, and swung the arm at Terra. Terra flew away on a boulder to get away from the massive limb, which had by now sprouted Freddy's trademark claws.

That didn't deter Gauntlet and Starfire, as they moved in to replace their blonde friend. Another barrage of Starbolts slammed into the limb, blowing holes in it, as Gauntlet formed a rough pickaxe and began hacking at the rock limb.

Freddy just laughed and stomped his foot, and a pillar of stone slammed up underneath Gauntlet, sending him flying. As Starfire tried to retreat, he struck again, moving his huge arm far faster then she expected he could, the large clawed fingers grabbing her in mid air and pining her hands to her side. She shrieked as Freddy brought her down to him, face to face.

"Ohhhhh look." He said, licking his lips. "An orange Popsicle."

Starfire's eyes fired green beams that exploded against Freddy's face and sent him flying backwards, his rock arm disintegrating as he bounced along the roof again.

"Why does SHE get the eye beams?" Freddy cursed as he got up again, and then his clawed arm was smashed right off at the shoulder via a carefully fired hunk of stone. He yelled in pain and turned towards Terra, who was swooping in as she fired more rocks at him, ripping holes in his gut and chest as he recoiled from the barrage…

And ducked under the last finishing blow, bringing him right up to Terra as she foolishly flew in too close to do her finish, as Freddy snapped out his one remaining arm and grabbed her by the front.

"ROCK BOTTOM!" he yelled, as he slammed her into the ground as hard as he could, knocking the air right out of Terra. As she convulsed on the ground, Freddy regrew his claw arm and swung it back…

Yellow energy grabbed it. Freddy arched an eyebrow.

"Don't you know wrestling is fake?" Gauntlet asked. Freddy chuckled.

"Pretty good kid. Did I catch your name?"

"It's…"

Gauntlet suddenly yelped as his energy contracted against his will, pulling him towards Freddy.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOUR NAME IS!" Freddy yelled, and as Gauntlet drew in close he lashed out with his boot, kicking Gauntlet in the stomach.

And then he actually gave Gauntlet the finger with both hands.

Many know what's coming next, as he ducked under Gauntlet's leaning form, grabbed his head, and jumped down, slamming Gauntlet's face into his shoulder. Gauntlet flew up like he'd had a crate of TNT explode under him, falling off the edge of the roof and disappearing.

"And that's the bottom line." Freddy said, thoroughly getting into his new parody. He saw Starfire swooping in, her hands glowing. "SPEAR!"

And he charged at Starfire shoulder first, her Starbolts missing him as he closed in…and at the last second Starfire dodged to the side. Freddy continued on his trip for half a second before he felt the alien girl's powerful arm encircle his head.

"Wha?" He said, as Starfire twisted around and reached under Freddy leg, lifting him up, his head and right leg hooked under her arms, as she launched herself into the air and began to rapidly spin. "WHOA-WHOA-WHOA-WHOA-WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!"

Starfire flew up about fifty feet before she flipped and put herself in a steep dive, Freddy head first. The alien girl fell back to the Tower like a shooting star, smashing Freddy down in a giant column of smoke as the impact shook the Tower again. She flew back, away from it, and landed nearby.

"Sorry Freddy. You're not exactly the man, nor do you reek of awesomeness. Though you do just reek." Starfire said. She looked over at Raven, who was nearby. "Are you all right?"

"Just…concentrating…" Raven said.

Freddy appeared from the smoke. He shook his head and stepped forward.

A short musical groan/whine sounded. Freddy looked down at his body and saw his torso was folded up like an accordion. He moved a bit and it wheezed up and down, making annoying noises that some people actually called music.

"Excuse me!" Came a call, and Freddy looked into a Gauntlet bludgeon that sent him flying once again. "I have a package here for a Mr. Has-Been!"

"What…" Freddy growled under his breath, as he flipped and landed. If looks could kill, Gauntlet would have been dead right then and there.

"You know Freddy, you may have been scary once, but your pandering undid you. Your jokes became you. You're too cartoony to take seriously." Gauntlet said as he approached. "I mean, don't you think it's time to trade in the glove for something new?"

"How funny you should ask." Freddy said, and yanked his glove off. Gauntlet got one look at the giant anvil that was at the end of Freddy's hand before Freddy swung it up and slammed it into him, sending the teenager on his own flight.

"You want cartoony? I'll show you cartoony! Roger Rabbit ain't got nothing on me!" Freddy snapped, as he twisted around a bit, and when he returned his arm had transformed into a giant buzzsaw that extended on a handle towards Gauntlet. Gauntlet yelped and threw up his shield, and the saw tore into the yellow energy. Gauntlet grit his teeth under the immense strain.

The blades tore through the energy.

And Gauntlet's body slid back as part of the roof broke under him and slid away from the blade. Freddy's eyes widened at this, and then he turned towards Terra, who had finished moving Gauntlet and was now flying in for another attack.

"Go gain some weight girl." Freddy said, and waved his hand.

A giant…something exploded from the ground beneath Terra, and she stopped in surprise. A poor move, as something fell from the sky right above her. Terra looked up and screamed before the giant lid slammed into her, knocking her off her rock and into the container that had appeared below her. She fell in, and the lid sealed shut on the round cardboard box…a giant tub of ice cream.

Rocky Road, to be precise.

"I scream, you scream, yadda yadda yadda." Freddy said, and turned back to Gauntlet, who has started getting up before Freddy's huge buzzsaw shot at him. Gauntlet rolled away, and then pressed himself flat on the ground as the saw sliced over him.

"Beginning to wish I'd stuck with realism, kid?" Freddy asked.

Gauntlet didn't reply: he was thinking. Like he had mentioned, in a nightmare Freddy had omnipotent-level abilities…but the thing was, since he struck in dreams, the same applied to you. The problem was that Freddy was much more versed in the abilities then you, and even those who managed to tap them often ended up outmatched, outdone, and then dead meat.

And since the Tower was clearly corrupted to the point that it acted like he was in a dream…

Gauntlet held out his hand…and a huge wooden mallet appeared in it. Freddy stopped.

"Oh look, you made a hammer! Too bad I'm all the way over here!"

"Yeah, too bad." Gauntlet said, and pressed a button on the hilt.

The end of the hammer opened up and a boxing glove on a spring shot from the end, slamming into Freddy's face and sending him flying once again.

"You're right, who needs realism?" Gauntlet said, as he got up. He could see Starfire furious tearing open the giant ice cream carton to get Terra out, and then he was aware of Raven next to him. He was about to ask why she wasn't helping, her arm and other cuts aside, until he looked at her and saw the deadly look of seriousness in her eyes. Then he knew why.

"You said he had one main weakness. What was it?" Raven asked.

"What? Oh yeah…fire! Fire ALWAYS works! It caused his original death, and still has great power over him…" Gauntlet trailed off as he looked at where he was.

The roof of the Tower…that had absolutely nothing on it that could start a fire. No fuel, no accelerants, nothing that generated heat, nothing. And he doubted any of the Titans were carrying gasoline or turpentine or something flammable on them. Of course Scalpel wasn't there. Hell, he doubted any of them had a match…

Starfire finally tore through the surprisingly tough wall of the ice cream box. A quick flash of heat melted the ice cream within, as Terra slid out, retching and spitting, completely covered in the cold snack food. It wasn't as nice as it sounds.

"Terra? Are you ok?" Starfire asked. Terra just continued to heave, trying to get air into her lungs while at the same time getting ice cream out of them.

"Starfire!" came a yell, and Starfire looked over to Gauntlet. "Hey! We need you to…"

"ARRGGGHHHH!!!! YOU LITTLE FUCK! _I'M_ THE ONE RIPPING OFF 'WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?' HERE!!!!" Came a bellow, as the end of the roof exploded in fire. Freddy stalked out, once again in the grip of a furious rage, his skin somehow even more grisly and enflamed then before.

"THAT IS IT! NO MORE FUCKING AROUND! WELCOME TO YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE!" Freddy bellowed, as his form suddenly stretched and then…MELTED, vanishing into the Tower roof.

Terra had staggered over to Gauntlet, who was giving her an improvised version of the Heimlich maneuver, as Starfire flew sideways a dozen feet and landed, Starbolts at the ready.

"Where is he?"

Starfire felt the ground shift underneath her, but she had no way to prepare for what she saw when she looked down.

And screamed. Freddy's face had become the rooftop underneath her, his burned and enraged visage rising right up out of the ground…as his mouth opened beneath her feet.

Starfire tried to fly, but Freddy's tongue slimed out and wrapped around her ankles, and she screamed as she was yanked down. She fired some Starbolts into the maw she was being pulled into, but that didn't seem to do anything, as Freddy's teeth, now razor sharp, started to close on her form, ready to rip her to shreds and swallow the remains.

* * *

It was right about then that Beast Boy remembered a crucial detail.

"Wait, what am I doing?" Beast Boy said, and then he became a bear. The last time he'd been faced with a lock, he had no powers. Now he did. C'est Juste.

One swipe of his huge, powerful claws tore the lock right off. Beast Boy returned to normal as Jason stalked up behind him.

Beast Boy turned firing, opening up with the first thing he had grabbed: a nail gun. The six inch fasteners slammed into Jason, three of them piercing into his mask and sending him staggering back. The nail gun jammed then, and Beast Boy tossed it aside as Jason stopped, and then, despite the mask, he managed a look of irritation as he reached up and yanked the nails out of his hockey mask. Apparently, he didn't much like being nailed, you might say.

Beast Boy was already back in the closet, coming up with a hacksaw. He stared at the weapon, and then he tried throwing it at Jason. The tool just bounced off him, and Beast Boy cursed at the uselessness of the weapon as he turned around, grabbed a…something, and hurled it at Jason. It turned out to be a jar of candy, which shattered on Jason's mask and sent him staggering back again.

Finally, Beast Boy found it. It wasn't just tools in the cabinet: there were a few weapons in there too, unfinished ones that were either on the way to being improved, finished, junked, or combined. Cyborg had shown him a few of his ideas once, and he hoped one of them was in the closet, it was why he'd come in here in the first place, because he knew fighting up close against Jason was going to get him killed and damn he was screwed anyway because Jason was almost at his back…

And he found it.

Jason swung up his axe.

And Beast Boy pulled out the prototype sonic cannon, found the trigger, and blasted Jason with it. The impact blew the giant backwards, bits of dead flesh and clothing scattering around him, and Beast Boy fired again: the prototype couldn't manage a constant beam but its firing blasts were just fine. Beast Boy fired again, and this time Jason was actually knocked off his feet. Beast Boy took advantage by dashing past him and out of the room, running a few feet out of the hallway…

And stopping. Robin was gone. Where did he go? Would he abandon a teammate, even if he couldn't harm the enemy? Never. Then why…

Jason was walking out of the door, still armed and dangerous, but now leaving a trail of blood behind him. Beast Boy smirked, as he reached down and turned the cannon up to maximum.

"Say goodnight, Gracie." Beast Boy, and aimed, pulling the trigger.

And the cannon shorted out.

That's what you get for pushing a PROTOTYPE.

"Oh shit…ake mushrooms." Beast Boy said as Jason swung up his machete.

Then stopped as a noise filled the hallway. A familiar noise, one Beast Boy had heard before. Jason stopped, cocked his head, and then turned as the chainsaw roared to life again.

"Hail to the king, baby!" Cyborg snarled as he stomped out of the shadows, wires from his crushed forearm emerging and hooked into the chainsaw he had replaced his hand with, the whirling chain smoking as it turned around its axis.

Jason actually seemed stunned, not knowing what to do, and then he went with what he always did, as he turned, brought his axe up, and slashed it at Cyborg.

The chainsaw caught the wooden handle and sliced right through it, cutting the axe head right off. Jason's neutered blow thudded harmlessly on Cyborg's chest, and Cyborg was actually close enough to see the surprise in his eyes behind his mask before he thrust the chainsaw down.

The blade bit into Jason's chest, the monster staggering as the chain ripped through rotten flesh and bone, horrific GUCK spraying from the wound and onto the walls, floor, and Cyborg. Jason finally staggered away, black blood pouring from his chest and his face, and collapsed.

He did not get up.

"Groovy." Cyborg said.

Staring worriedly at Jason's body, Beast Boy reached out and poked it with his foot. It didn't move. As fast as he could, Beast Boy scurried around the fallen body and to Cyborg's side.

"Nice work Victor." He said.

"Thanks." Cyborg said. "Where are the others?"

"I don't know, I left Scalpel behind and Robin was just…"

Jason reared up, slashing his machete at the two. They yelped and leapt back, as the creature rose again, clutching his machete even as more bits of himself fell to the ground. His chest was so slashed up it was little more then bone covered with black ooze now, rags of flesh hanging from his frame.

"Damn it, don't you EVER die?" Cyborg said, as he brought the chainsaw back up and yanked on its chain.

The blade started, and then came to a stop with a wet gargling sound. Cyborg looked at the blade and saw for the first time all the flesh and general mess coating it. Jason's rotten body may have given beneath the chainsaw, but that very rotted body had clogged up the mechanism and stopped it from working.

"Ah fuck!" Cyborg cursed as Jason stomped towards them. "Whoever thought a chainsaw was an effective weapon must have been on something!"

Jason swung at the two again, as Cyborg tried to jettison the chainsaw. The machete chopped deep into his shoulder, and Cyborg bellowed in pain. Jason yanked the machete out, as Cyborg decided to screw removing the chainsaw and lashed out with it, slamming the heavy weapon across Jason's head.

Bad move, as Jason came right back, not with the machete, but with a punch.

A punch that smashed right through Cyborg's chest.

Cyborg screamed again, his systems going nuts as major power lines were destroyed. His body spasmed, sparks shooting from the wound, even as Jason, almost measuring the blow, brought his machete up to cleave Cyborg's head…

Beast Boy leapt on Jason's back and rammed the axe head straight into the side of his neck. Jason recoiled as ebony fluids fountained from the side of his neck, Beast Boy falling off and dodging around just before Jason would have tripped over him. Cyborg slid off Jason's arm, and Beast Boy slid his arms under Cyborg's armpits and began to drag him away as best he could.

"Beast Boy stop! I'll just slow you down!" Cyborg said, as Jason continued to try and pull the axe head out.

"I'm not leaving you!" Beast Boy said, even though his arms were screaming with pain: he didn't have that much physical strength, and his head was pounding so hard that he couldn't transform.

Jason yanked the axe head out, and even as more black blood spurted from his neck and ran down his arm, he turned back to the two Titans and once again began stalking them.

"Oh sweetness!" Beast Boy said, the sight giving him a burst of adrenaline.

But Jason, despite his grievous wounds, was moving faster then them, as Beast Boy frantically dragged Cyborg to the end of the hall and the elevators that were there. He dropped Cyborg and began pressing the button, even as Jason stomped towards them, machete dripping with his own and other's blood.

"Come on, come on…!"

"Beast Boy, RUN!" Cyborg yelled, and Beast Boy turned to see that Jason was right on top of them, machete raised, and he was screwed. If he ran Jason would chop Cyborg, if he didn't Jason would chop him, it was either his life or…

The glaive burst from Jason's chest, and Jason staggered back once more, as more blood flowed through the mouth holes of his hockey mask.

"You're not the only one who can lurk in the shadows." Scalpel said from the open stairway door, and leapt at Jason. Jason swung at him, but the leap wasn't an attack, and all Jason got was a slice of Scalpel's cloak as Scalpel dove in, grabbed his glaive, and yanked it out through Jason's body. More blood exploded from Jason's torso at this, even as Scalpel slipped up and assumed a Blacktrinian combat pose.

Jason swung at him: Scalpel blocked with one end of the glaive and ripped another massive gash across what was left of the flesh on Jason's chest. Jason staggered a bit, then slashed again: Scalpel, ducked, swung, and slammed his foot into Jason's chest in a roundhouse kick. A disgusting wet cracking noise resulted.

Cyborg's body jerked, startling Beast Boy, and then Cyborg started to move again.

"My power cell's cracked, unreliable. I had to switch to backup power…but I don't think it will last long!" Cyborg said, as he stood up. He reached over and began clawing at the chainsaw, trying to clean the guck out.

Jason swung and missed again, and Scalpel ripped a huge wound across Jason's stomach. No guts emerged, though Jason clearly felt the injury as he staggered back, yet another fountain of blood spewing onto the floor. Beast Boy looked at the battle as Scalpel dashed forward…

And slipped on the blood.

"Oh no!" Beast Boy said, as Scalpel sprawled on the ground. He suddenly wished he'd held onto Cyborg's overloaded prototype: he could have thrown it at Jason or something. But there was nothing he could do, as Jason reared up and slashed down at Scalpel.

Scalpel brought the glaive up to intercept.

The machete sliced through it and gorged into Scalpel's torso. Scalpel bellowed as the machete went all the way through and buried itself in the floor.

"Ah shit!" Cyborg cursed as he continued to claw at the chainsaw.

Jason looked down at his victim, pinned to the floor and not able to go anywhere…

And then Scalpel shoved the thin, pointed end of the glaive up, piercing under Jason's chin and right into his brain. Jason actually shuddered, letting go of the machete as he tried to get the point out, as Scalpel twisted it back and forth, feeling the point rip through whatever was beyond, even as he finally managed to get a foot up and shove Jason away. Grabbing the machete, he yanked it out with a scream, blood flowing out from his mouth as he got up, as Jason swayed and staggered…and then yanked the point out. Blood and worse squirted from the wound, but even that would not deter Jason, as he reached for Scalpel…

And Scalpel screamed, and with a spinning leap he slashed his foot out, slicing it across Jason's face in a twirling roundhouse kick.

Jason's mask snapped off, flying away and hitting the wall, where it shattered.

Scalpel landed awkwardly and stumbled back, as Jason looked back from the recoil.

_"Vioxx._" Scalpel said, one of the most serious curses on his planet. Roughly translated, it meant "It should not exist", and it was normally used to insult someone by indicating whatever they had done should not have happened.

But in this case, as Scalpel looked upon Jason's face, a face that had long lost any semblance of humanity, a face of black tissue, exposed decaying muscle, and fetid bone, thin strands of hair wisping from the black skull, teeth exposed and protruding, eyes shot through with rot and somehow still seeing, a face not even a mother could love, he meant it. It was not something that should be.

And Jason started for him again. Once more, Scalpel thought his curse. The being before him simply would not die. He kept coming, and coming, and coming, no matter what you did to him, he would simply not be laid to rest…

Scalpel bumped into someone behind him.

He stopped, and then slowly turned.

Robin stood there, a new mask on his face…and a fresh utility belt around his waist. He hadn't fled, he'd taken a long needed side trip to his room.

"Damn, you actually look better WITH the mask." Robin said.

And he snapped out his arms. Birdarangs flew through the air, slicing and dicing through Jason's flesh. As Jason recoiled from the onslaught, Cyborg and Beast Boy took advantage of it by slipping around Jason's assaulted form and running over to Scalpel and Robin's side (and Beast Boy, not taking any chances, continued down the hall to grab the prototype).

Robin finished with the Birdarangs, but he was just getting started, as he spread his fingers, metal disks appearing between them as he fired them off. They crashed and tore through Jason's form, knocking him back more and taking out one of his eyes, even as Robin reached down, pulled out three explosive disks, and hurled them at Jason. The monster was consumed by explosions.

Smoke billowed out, enveloping the group.

"You think that will be enough?" Scalpel asked.

"If he gets up after THAT, he DESERVES to kill us." Robin said.

Jason stalked forward out of the smoke, his flesh hanging off his body, bones poking through his form, his head smoking, but he KEPT coming, even as Robin recoiled in shock.

"Quick Rob, more weapons!" Beast Boy said.

"That was all I had time to grab!" Robin said.

"Oh shit!"

Jason reached down, grabbed his machete, and stalked towards the four.

"Scalpel!" Cyborg said, and the alien looked at the teen machine, as Cyborg raised his still working hand. The blowtorch emerged from the finger. Scalpel looked at it, and then he coughed, more blood spilling from his mouth…and he understood.

Jason kept coming, like the devil himself, as Scalpel shoved Robin and Beast Boy aside with a surprised squawk from both, even as he inhaled, even as Cyborg raised the blowtorch in front of him.

And he sprayed a plume of his own blood out, out into the flame that ignited the fluid and turned it into a destroying flame cloud that enveloped Jason, igniting him. Jason staggered back once more, completely aflame.

"NOW! STAY! DOWN!" Scalpel yelled, as Jason convulsed and lurched in his own personal hell.

Then he stopped.

And he looked at the Titans.

"Oh no." Robin said.

"What do we do now?" Scalpel asked.

"Running would be a good idea." Cyborg said.

And the four turned and ran into the open stairway that Scalpel had emerged from, as Jason pursued them, a personal agent from the devil that was determined to claim the Titans no matter what they did to him, the heat from his flaming body driving the Titans up the stairs as he reached the base and started following them up.

"Keep running! Even HE can't follow us all the way up the stairs while on fire!" Robin yelled, as the four Titans called on their last reserves of strength as they tried to beat the devil.

When they were halfway up, they stopped and looked down.

Flames shot up through the hole in the middle of the stairway.

"DAMMIT! WHY WON'T HE JUST DIE!!!!!!!!" Robin screamed.

"I thought you said…" Cyborg began.

"Never mind what I said, MOVE!" Robin said, and the four resumed their run.

* * *

Starfire brought her hands out, the edges of the teeth biting into her palms as she continued to scream, feeling herself getting pulled down.

"STARFIRE!" Terra yelled, as she brought a rain of boulders down on Freddy's head. The roof head cursed, but he continued to swallow, even as Starfire was yanked down even more, now only her head and arms visible as she fired Starbolts at anything she could.

Gauntlet leapt up, his energy forming into one long spike that he brought down on the roof Freddy's eye. Freddy bellowed as blood exploded from the wound, and then his other eye popped out on a stalk and slammed into Gauntlet like a squishy wrecking ball, sending him flying. With a final scream, Starfire disappeared into the mouth.

Roof Freddy licked his lips.

"Tastes like chicken."

The entire head exploded in a gigantic surge of power. From the explosion flew Freddy, who landed and bounced a few times. He got up, muttering to himself and holding his stomach.

"Ugh. Indigestion. Those enchiladas…" Freddy said. He wondered where the girl was after that: probably a few floors down in the building. Maybe she was half or already dead. Well, she wouldn't be bothering him for a bit: he'd get her later, as he turned to deal with the remaining three.

Gauntlet stepped up, looking quite angry. Freddy smirked and raised his glove, taunting, as the weapon expanded and covered his whole arm to mimic Robert Candide's namesake weapon.

"Come on little boy. Freddy wants to play."

Gauntlet fired off a yellow energy battering ram.

And Freddy fired off his own energy protrusion, except his was his own face, a face that opened its mouth and chomped onto the Gauntlet energy, and Gauntlet found himself being yanked to the side and hurled across the roof. He hit the ground, bounced a few times, and sat up only to have Freddy, already there, smash a timekeeper's bell over his head before he knew what was happening.

"Nice toy you have there. Think I'll take it!" Freddy said, as he produced a crowbar and tried to shove it under Gauntlet's shoulder, the teen too dazed to know what was going on.

Good thing for him the Gauntlet couldn't be removed, as Freddy struggled furiously.

"Bah!" Freddy said, throwing the crowbar away and producing a shoe horn, which he tried to worm under the Gauntlet from several angles. Nothing. Freddy tried it again with a butter knife. Nothing.

"Ok fine, good old elbow grease!" Freddy said, as he grabbed his arm and squeezed. Liquid squirted out.

Gauntlet rolled away from it.

"I don't even want to KNOW where that came from!" He yelled as he got up. "Enough! Let's finish this!"

"Ok." Freddy said, and then he disappeared.

Gauntlet didn't even have time to register what had happened, as Freddy reappeared behind him, produced the timekeeper's bell again, and smashed it across the back of his head. His brain already a tad bit scrambled, this impact knocked him clean out.

"I win." Freddy chuckled.

Five daggers of rock impaled themselves through Freddy's chest, and he staggered back as he looked up at Terra, who fired several more that impaled themselves through Freddy's form. Freddy bellowed in rage, and decided he wasn't going for anything special. In his left hand appeared…a bolt of some kind.

"Screw you." Freddy said, as he rolled the bolt over to his thumb and forefinger and flicked it out. It fired through the air…and went straight through Terra's throat.

"Terra!" Raven said, as Terra staggered, stumbling off the rock, holding her throat as blood spilled out. And even though part of her didn't want to, Raven floated over as blood poured between Terra's fingers.

Then her hands suddenly parted, by force, as Raven reached out and pulled the screw out, even as she laid her left hand on Terra's body and did a rush healing job. Terra gasped as the wound disappeared, and fell to his knees, hacking up clotted blood.

Then a boot stomped on her head, smashing her face into the ground. Raven looked up at Freddy.

"And then there was only one... again."

Freddy's clawed hand shot out, grabbing Raven around the throat and lifting her up with no effort, as Freddy laughed merrily.

"Now…my dear…you have teased me long enough." He said, and threw Raven to the ground." "It's time to give it up…"

"Fuck you, you motherlover." Raven snapped.

Freddy's face enflamed with rage again as he snapped out his boot, kicking Raven in the face so hard she slid across the ground several feet before she stopped, her head falling to the ground, blood running from the corner of her mouth. She shouldn't, from a tactical sense, have healed Terra. The rush job had messed up her flow and ruined her concentration, and she doubted she would get a chance to put it back together, as Freddy approached, knelt down, his claws clicking as he smiled down at her, lightly placing the foremost one on her chest.

"Nine, ten." He sang the last verse of his dreadful song calmly "You'll never breathe again. Say goodnight, bitch."

The rooftop door slammed open, and Freddy jerked up as new forms emerged out onto the roof. He growled under his throat: not now! He'd had enough bullshit! He wanted to play with his prize! Well, if there were more super-zeroes showing up, he'd take care of them. He was sick of foreplay, as he raised his hand and the hammer Gauntlet had created flew into it.

"Ok if we have to we throw him off the…WHAT?" Robin said as he ran onto the roof and saw the scattered bodies. He only managed to get a faint look at the figure in the distance before the boxing glove slammed into his face and knocked him silly.

"ROBIN!" Beast Boy yelled as he saw this, and he followed the glove back to its source. "HOLY SHIT IT'S…"

The glove slammed into his face, knocking him a few feet away and down and out with his leader.

Scalpel staggered out, not knowing what was going on…

The glove fired at him.

Scalpel ducked at the last second, and poor Cyborg took the blow to the chest. He staggered backwards, hit the edge of the stairway, tipped over it, and fell, screaming, down the shaft, flying past a flaming Jason, who stopped to look for a second and then went on.

"You! The child killer!" Scalpel hissed. He'd held onto the other end of the glaive, the one with the large bladed end, and he leapt at Freddy, swinging the blade like a makeshift sword.

Freddy dashed under the blow and thrust his claws up, impaling them into Scalpel's chest even as he swooped down and slammed him into the roof.

Cyborg's hand shot out, grabbing a railing. It bent under his weight, but it managed to stop his fall, as Cyborg fully tapped into his power reserves and yanked himself back onto the steps, heading back up them as he clawed at his chainsaw.

Freddy yanked his hand out of Scalpel and turned…

And Jason stepped out onto the roof.

Freddy's eyes widened.

"YOU!"

Jason was barely aware of the yell, and he couldn't see very well through the flames, but he recognized the form before him. The one who had tricked him, the one who had used him, pretended to be his mother, exploited the fears buried so deep in his heart that even Jason wasn't aware of them (why do you think that despite a mortal fear of water, Jason had never had a problem with it before? That was deep deep deep Freudian stuff Jason didn't give a shit about on the surface. Water was good for drowning people, and besides that he took no notice of it). And despite the damage to his form, he knew what he was going to do, as he started towards Freddy, his flaming machete at the bear.

"Come on you stupid mutt! Things will be different this-ARGGHHH!" Freddy yelled as Scalpel's glaive rammed through his chest.

Scalpel regretted the move, as Freddy turned and slashed him across the face, nearly taking out one of his eyes like he had once did so to the White Hole's, as he was knocked down again. Freddy yanked the glaive out of him, tossed it aside, and stabbed the alien a few more times to make him stay down, even as Jason approached him.

"JASONNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!"

The chainsaw roared to life behind Jason, who stopped, and like his many peers and rip-offs before him, turned to face Cyborg, who had finally cleaned out the chainsaw and gotten it revved again, even as his reserve powers flashed in the red, but he didn't care he was going to end this, as Jason turned back and raised his machete towards Cyborg.

The chainsaw slashed down, cutting Jason's arm off at the elbow. His machete clanged to the ground as Jason recoiled, looking at his gushing stump, and then he stopped and walked for Cyborg again, as Cyborg rammed the chainsaw forward, piercing right through Jason's gut. Jason shuddered as the blade tore through his innards, ripping up through his body, even as he clawed at Cyborg's head, even as more and more of his body was torn apart, and finally, his strength started to fade, as his still flaming form was reflected in Cyborg's metal body, as Jason fell to his knees…

And with a war bellow, Cyborg raised the chainsaw and brought the front edge right down on Jason's face, splitting it apart and turning it to hamburger as the chainsaw tore through his skull and sliced out the back, where it finally jammed again and came to a stop. Jason shuddered one last time, his hand feebly scraping at Cyborg…and then it went limp, as Cyborg finally disengaged the wires linking the chainsaw to his body as Jason's form thudded to the ground, the chainsaw still stuck in an upright position.

He was finally dead.

And Cyborg could feel his strength leaving him, as his reserves ran out, as his legs began to buckle, as he stumbled backwards, his vision fading as he hit the wall of the small building the stairs exited out to…and all he was aware of was a terrible, mad, delighted laughter.

"YES!!!!!!!!!" Freddy crowed, dancing in place as he looked at Jason's destroyed form. "YES YES YES YES YES OH HAPPY DAY!"

He pranced over to Jason's form, which lay there, flames still licking at it, but even that wasn't going to keep Freddy away.

"Yes! Who's the big dog now!" Freddy taunted. "You thought you were so bad, but in the end, I am the king! No one tops me in the end you stupid dog! No one!"

And Raven looked up from where she was laying, as she watched Freddy dance around Jason's form, and at her friends scattered around, and the rage awoke in her again, even as the darkness whirled up around her.

"I am the best! I am the best!" Freddy said, kicking Jason's body before yanking his foot back to get away from the flame. "I am the master, I am the best!" Freddy said, and turned and waved his rear at Jason. "Kiss this! HA HA HA HA HA!"

Freddy then noticed that the blonde was moving, trying to get up. And not just the blonde, the kid in the red suit that had been the first one he had bonked with the hammer was moving too. He smirked.

"Look at you! Beaten by some pathetic kids! But not me, you stupid mutt! I'll show you how to REALLY do this! With style, and panache, and everything that makes ME the greatest…"

"FREDDY KRUEGER!"

Freddy stopped and turned at the bellow of his name. Apparently, despite being the best, even HE didn't know.

Raven floated there, her hood up and her body awash with dark power, and Freddy started to smile when he remembered all the things he was going to do…a smile that faded when he saw the several plastic containers that were floating in front of her.

Cleaning chemicals.

"Change of plans. You sing for ME!" Raven yelled, as she ripped open the containers via dark energy.

"Oh no you don't!" Freddy said, as he started for Raven…

And then Jason's hand reared up and seized his ankle.

"AHHHHH! WHAT!" Freddy said, as he turned and looked at the hand, and then Raven was throwing the chemicals at him, everything she had pulled from beneath the sink when she had been gathering enough energy to do a proper teleport, which she had done, as the chemicals splashed over Freddy.

"NOOOOOOO!" he screamed, as the substances soaked him, not because he was afraid of the chemicals, but because more then a few of them were…

Flaming hand holding his ankle…

Combustible.

Freddy Krueger erupted into flame, a mad squeal coming from his mouth as his lone weakness, the one thing that even his powers could not defend against, came back to plague him again, as he danced away from Jason's body, screaming and bellowing, as his hat crumbled into ash and the leather on his claw glove began to break apart.

As Raven floated down before him, and as all the Titans watched, she called upon the rest of the power she had been storing, waiting for a moment like this, when his defenses were down and she could finally, irrevocably, wake up.

"Good night, BITCH." Raven snapped, and slammed out her arm, firing her most potent force/telekinetic blast right into the center of Freddy's being.

Freddy Krueger exploded, blown to tiny bits, his parts spraying across the entire roof and raining down around the edges, like a fireworks show from hell.

His flaming glove bounced a few times and finally came to rest alongside Jason's machete. For a moment, the two flickered in unison.

And then they began to fade, disappearing into nothing, as the end finally came the way it always did in the films: blackness.

* * *

"Is everyone all right?" Robin asked from where he was standing.

"Starfire. She got…eaten by Freddy…he became the roof and…" Gauntlet tried to explain.

"She's alive." Raven said from where she was sitting, completely exhausted. "I can…sense her. It's faint, but there. I think she's a few floors down." Raven said, indicating the large hole in the roof. Robin went over and glanced down into it, but all he could see was the floor right below the roof, covered in rubble. Apparently the hole Starfire had made when she'd gone through the second floor had been small enough to be covered by the collapsing roof.

"What about Savior?" Terra asked.

"…..He's alive. I can feel it, even though I can't sense him." Raven said.

"Guys…" Beast Boy said from where he was leaning on the wall. "I think I…"

"UHHHH!" Cyborg yelped as his eye opened, as Robin finally managed to reroute the power source in Cyborg's chest back to the power cell. It may have been cracked, but it was all he had left, unreliable or not. Everyone jumped at the sudden noise.

"Sorry." Cyborg said sheepishly, as he stood and looked at everyone. "So, did we win?"

"For the moment." Scalpel said from where he was leaning on his glaive. Raven had managed to muster enough juice to stop the bleeding, which was enough for him, but when this night was done his whole chest was going to be covered in scars. "Beast Boy was saying something?"

"Maybe that boxing glove jarred something loose, but I finally remember what films were in that pile."

"What? How many?" Robin asked.

"There were six ON the DVD player…and there were three films in the VCR's and DVD players. Nine in all."

"Nine…" Robin said.

"Wait! That means…we won!" Cyborg said.

"What?" Terra asked.

"How did you arrive to that conclusion?" Raven asked.

"Ok…we all fought zombies…well, except Rob…"

"Hey."

"In any case, that was one. Scalpel killed the Fisherman…"

"Yes…" Scalpel said.

"Terra killed Ghostface…"

"Yeah…"

"Starfire killed Jack Frost…"

The lack of an answer weighed on the Titans' hearts, even if Starfire was alive.

"Noel said, before we lost contact, that he managed to kill Chucky." Raven said.

"Ok…Robin, you killed the Leprechaun."

"Wasn't easy…"

"Beast Boy, you got the Candyman…"

"I still can't believe that worked…"

"I took care of Jason…finally, and Raven dealt with Freddy! Zombies, Fisherman, Ghostface, Jack Frost, Chucky, Leprechaun, Candyman, Jason, Freddy. Nine films, nine slashers, and we beat them all. It's over. We won."

"No…" Beast Boy said, and everyone looked at him. "I was right on the films…but Vic…one of them was Freddy VS Jason."

"But what…oh shit." Cyborg said.

"They BOTH came out of that film. There's nine films…but there's ten slashers. We've still got one to go…and it's bad."

"Who is it?" Terra asked. Beast Boy looked pale.

"The originator."

* * *

Starfire's eyes fluttered open, and she moaned and got up. The last thing she remembered was detonating a gigantic Starbolt inside the mouth, and the falling…and…

She was back in the lounge. She had landed on the couch where all the Titans had been sitting where this had begun, and the poor piece of furniture had collapsed under her. She slowly got up, checking to see if all her body parts were still there. They were, but she ached like hell, both from her wounds and her efforts throughout this night. She didn't think she could generate another Starbolt if her life depended on it.

"Hello?" she asked the dark lounge. "Is anyone there?"

Silence.

But, as her eyes caught movement, Starfire realized that she was not alone. She gasped.

And faint piano music played somewhere in the background…

As Michael Myers stepped from the shadows and headed for Starfire.


	13. Halloween

Part 13: Halloween

12:00 AM, October 31

Ever since Starfire had fallen over and given herself a nosebleed back when this whole sordid spectacle had begun, she had felt the bloom of a terrible feeling within her, a special kind of torment, that had risen and fell during the entire evening as she had worried about friends, out of sight and by her side, as well as her own self. True, Starfire had felt fear before, but never anything like this. And now, as she stared at the dead white mask that Michael Myers wore as he approached her, his huge form clad in a dull blue boiler suit, a large kitchen butcher knife clutched in his right hand, as the sickness and horror roiled up again, consuming her guts, her heart, her soul, she could finally give it, if not a name, an exact reason for being.

The T-Tower was many things: a strangely shaped building, a base, a memorial, a symbol, but above all else it was HOME. Tamaranians were highly emotional creatures, and to Starfire, home was very important. She has lost hers as a child, been pulled from it for the sake of the so-called greater good, cast into slavery and hell. When she had escaped she was almost as afraid of what possibly lay ahead of her then what she had fled from. And then she had crash-landed on Earth…and wonder of wonders, she had found a new home there. And it was here, in this building.

Home was very important to people. They said home was where the heart was, there was no place like home, that a "heap of lovin' can make a house a home." People were told to keep the home fires burning, and when fighter pilots finished their missions they radioed that they were "coming home." Robert Frost said it best, perhaps, when he said that home was the place that, when you went there, they had to take you in. Home was important to normal people, it was important to Tamaranians, and it was definitely important to metahumans who took upon the title of "superheroes."

Because home was where you could go, no matter what crime or horror or atrocity you had seen/prevented/been part of, a place where you could go and lock the door and, at least in theory, lock all the madness of the outside world away. It was where you could lay down your weapons and armor, where you could rest, where you could safely be VULNERABLE. It was where Starfire slept, where she showered, where she engaged in intimacy with her love, where she took care of her embarrassing but necessary bodily functions not talked about with polite company. It was where one could supposedly go when the chaos in life became too much to bear, your rock, your anchor, your center.

And even though the theory didn't always match up to the reality…it was something Starfire could accept. She'd seen a lot of things happen to her home. She'd been inside it when a demonic lord had used it as a base for his attempt in conquering the world. She'd seen a mad god raze it to the ground. She'd seen another hostile deity tear it from the earth and use it as part of his castle. She'd seen it attacked and invaded and taken over and tainted and haunted and a hundred other things…but she could accept all those things in the end, because in the end, when the threat was defeated, the chaos calmed, she could go back to it…even if it had to be repaired, rebuild, or replaced. Buildings came and went…but homes…they were once in a lifetime. She didn't think she'd find another one when she had been sold to end a war, and she severely doubted she'd get so lucky a third time. This place, this tower, it was her HOME.

And then this had happened to it.

And this was something she could not accept. She had swallowed a lot that life had thrown at her, ingested more bitter pills then she had ever expected or ever knew EXISTED. She KNEW that this life she had chosen was hard, and painful, and a mad mad mad mad mad world…but all that, she could accept. She could make it part of her reality and move on.

But when horror movie villains are coming to life, attacking her friends, harming them…that was too much. She could accept a cold-heated megalomaniac like Slade, or a zealous madman like the Lord, or a merry psychotic like Asphyxiation, or a bloodthirsty sadist soldier like the White Hole, or a terrible evil power like Bloody Sam Caine…but this was going too far. It wasn't just attacking her frail reality, it was seizing her world and exploding it in her face, forcing her to deal with things that she simply could not deal with.

Like Raven, she could handle all that…but horror film villains belonged on the other side of a TV, the shown part of something filmed that ended when the director yelled cut. The lunatics took off their masks and makeup, their victims got up, washed off the fake blood, and went to collect their paychecks, and the terrible rages and vengeances and bloodthirsts disappeared until the camera turned back on again. It was a world of absolutes, lacking rationality and sense, celebrating death and horror…and yet somehow that made it enjoyable…as long as one knew, deep down, that in the end it was all a movie, constructed, manipulated, FAKE.

When that fakeness became REAL…

The author Shirley Jackson, in her definite haunted house novel _The House On Haunted Hill_, had summed up the world of the troubled abode in the first paragraph:

"No live organism can continue to exist for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone."

A nice bit of prose, and a poignant juxtaposition that basically said that while Hill House did not exist under conditions of absolute reality, it also did not dream, and therefore was not sane. For sanity to exist, dreaming was needed, the shifting murky world of the subconscious, where things we would never accept in real life become as common as breathing.

But to Starfire, the opposite was true was well. No creature could exist sanely under conditions of absolute dreaming. Eventually, reality had to intercede, even in a world as crazy and messed up as Starfire's in comparison to our own, humble reader. Starfire wanted to stop dreaming, was DESPERATE to stop dreaming, and yet time and again on this night, she found she could not.

And that was the heart of the sickness within her. She wanted to wake up, and not just in regards to our once again departed dream master, Freddy. She wanted to hear that same voice Raven had dearly wanted to hear when she had seen Ghostface. She wanted reality to speak up, to say "Ok Koriand'r of Tamaran, it is true you live in a world where there are beings that can snuff out stars with a snap of their fingers, where bathing in radioactive chemicals grants you amazing power rather then giving you lymphoma, where the laws of physics, time, and space seem to exist only to the convenience of more then a few beings, where Mommy was lying when she said there were no monsters in the closet, because there WERE monsters out there, supernatural, organic, and human, and where life is strange, uncertain, and damn scary…but it is a world where horror movie slashers stay in the fake world created for them, and don't cross over to yours, because they don't exist in the first place, so how can they exist in any form at all?"

And with Michael Myers walking towards her, as big as life, as sure as death, closing in, defying that little condolence she had…

The crack was opening in her mind.

And so, after all she had endured, despite her pain and exhaustion and empty reverses, somehow Starfire found it within herself to raise her hands and scream, the green power glowing on them, not because she found one last reverse to tap or received a burst of desperate adrenaline from the animal instincts that fired when it felt she was truly trapped in a corner or not because she was afraid for her life, because after all this she had moved past all those things.

She had finally become offended.

"YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE!" Starfire screamed, and she opened fire.

Perhaps eight Starbolts slammed into Myers' form, rocking his massive frame and burning dark scorch marks on his blue suit as he staggered back under the assault and collapsed.

And Starfire screamed/groaned again as the backlash of what she had done washed through her. When you fire energy bolts and your normal energy stores are empty, said energy has to come from SOMEWHERE. In this case, Starfire's own body. The resulting feedback was much like a reactionary entire body cramp, albeit with a lot less pain. It had a worse side effect though: weakness, as Starfire's legs gave out and she collapsed on her knees. Her arms hung limp on her sides, and though she tried she could not move them: she had screwed up her own bioelectricity and her body needed to reroute. It was a good thing she'd fallen the way she had: a little more weight at the wrong angle and she would have collapsed on her face and suffocated in the carpet.

But that near-miss didn't seem so great after a second, because it was increasingly clear she couldn't move.

As Myers sat up, seemingly unperturbed about what had happened, and casually got to his feet and headed for Starfire again.

Starfire furiously commanded her body to move as Myers approached, but she was out of luck: she'd used up her last "I command you to do something you cannot do body!" card with the Starbolts. Maybe not the brightest move…but when do people behave brightly in horror films?

Myers' shadow fell over her.

She wondered what to do. Should she scream? Beg for her life? Cry? Curse him out? Would anything work?

Myers stopped in front of her, regarding her through the black slits of his mask, his eyes completely concealed by shadow, and then he began to draw the knife back.

In the end, Starfire did nothing. She said a private goodbye to Tim and her friends in her head as she looked up at Myers, her eyes hard. She would die with dignity…

"Michael."

Starfire's eyes widened at the voice, but Michael didn't seem to notice, as he started stabbing the knife forward…

A Shimmer strand lashed out and struck Myers' hand, knocking the knife away as Michael recoiled from the sudden blow. The knife flew across the room and impaled in a wall.

"MICHAEL." Savior repeated from the doorway he was leaning in.

Michael took a look at his attacker, and then he turned back to Starfire as he reached his hands out for her.

A Shimmer line lashed his back.

"MICHAEL MYERS." Savior said again, now slightly angry, but in the way of someone who cannot get the attention of someone. Myers stopped his attempted choke at the blow, and then he turned around, looking at Savior.

And then he started walking towards him, slowly. Savior took this as a cue to step from the shadows. He had an ugly wound on his forehead that had left a trail of blood down his face, but he didn't seem to care much. He was looking at Myers, even as he began stepping to the side, slowly and deliberately, matching Myers' pace so that a constant distance was kept between the two. Myers didn't take the hint and do something like run: that wasn't what he did. So he kept walking, as did Savior, while Noel spoke.

"Michael Myers. Became known to movie audiences in 1978 when director John Carpenter released the film _Halloween._ Back then, horror movies were not the way most people know them now. There was no concept of a slasher film. Hell, there wasn't anything like a slasher film. But much like the video game Resident Evil, which pioneered a new kind of game genre, Survival-Horror, _Halloween_ was the pedigree. Though it was not the first kind of film that had a plot like a slasher. The grandfather of such films is generally considered to be 1971's _Twitch of the Death Nerve, _by Mario Bava. Another spiritual ancestor was 1975's _Black Christmas_, for which _Halloween_ began in its very early stages as a sequel to. Makes sense, right? And of course, some kind of nod must be given to 1974's _Texas Chainsaw Massacre._ It most likely was some kind of influence." Savior said. By now he had managed to walk over to Starfire, and though he did not turn his head towards her, he walked in such a way that his face could be seen. He gave her a brief wink. Starfire, having been given time to rest, could only summon enough strength for four seconds of flight, but she used those four seconds to fly through the hole in the roof she had made on her way down, leaving Savior alone with Myers. Who was starting to make a little ground. Savior quickened his pace a bit, keeping Myers in his sight as the masked killer stalked him.

"You wouldn't think _Halloween_ was destined for any kind of greatness. The budget was only $300,000, and for a professional Hollywood screenplay, that's chicken feed, even in those days. Certain things had to be cut. Most of the cast wore their own clothes, did you know that? No wardrobe department for them. Hell, they couldn't even afford an original mask for the killer. So what they did was they found an old William Shatner mask, teased out the hair, spray painted it white…and voila. Mix in soon to be legendary scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis and veteran character actor Donald Pleasence…and in the end, we had something notable."

If Myers had any idea what the hell Savior was talking about, he gave no indication. Nor did he speed up. He seemed content to follow Savior around the room and wait until he stopped or decided to get close.

"The film was a monster. It grossed over $40 million worldwide. And it deserved it. It was something new at the time, I'll say. Carpenter's direction, Curtis' performance as both plucky heroine and terrified victim…but what really solidified it was Michael Myers. You." Savior said, gesturing. "What is truly effective is that Michael, you, are only referred to by name twice during the film. Even the ending credits list you as "The Shape". If anything, that was the final touch, as you brought a new character into the mainstream: the concealed killer, who would not stop no matter what, who wore a mask that could provide a great moment when it was removed, and a villain that made you wonder: was this a man, or something else? You also became the only slasher who could drive, though I'd like to know how you got a license considering you spent fifteen years locked up in an asylum."

Savior was passing by Myers' knife, but he barely noticed.

"BUT…there was a downside to this. Now, horror films were nothing new. One of the very first films that was ever made was an adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff made careers playing Dracula and Frankenstein. But at the same time, it was demonstrated that audiences would only tolerate so much. When Hollywood attempted to out-horror Frankenstein, the result was _Freaks_, which succeeded too well: it was SO terrifying, even now, that it was repeatedly banned. But the genre continued on. There were the giant atomic mutants in the 50's, the Hammer films, Alfred Hitchcock, The Twilight Zone, Herschell Gordon Lewis…And gore, especially considering Mr. Lewis, was nothing new as well. In fact, during the 70's some kind of Hollywood brouhaha left the industry without any kind of ratings system for a bit, which allowed people to try stuff they'd never tried before. But…with _Halloween_, Hollywood truly found a use for the red stuff. And therein lies the problem…"

Myers' had reached his knife, and he paused to yank it out of the wall. Once again in possession of his weapon, he continued to stalk Savior around the room. For once the size of the room worked for the Titan: Myers, unlike several of his peers, had no magic powers or special abilities to hit at far range. Combined with the fact that Myers always walked, and Savior wasn't going to let him out of his sight for a second lest Myers teleport behind him, and Savior had plenty of room to keep him at bay.

"You see, like I said, audiences are fickle creatures. They go to horror movies wanting to be scared, and when something like _Freaks_ comes along, they ban it because it's TOO scary. And yet, at the same time…it's very hard to scare to audience. Children yes, but anyone over the age of 13? I wonder if there was a single quickened pulse at ANY of those drive-ins during all the giant monster eats the town films. You see…it's HARD to SCARE people, because for them, real LIFE is scary enough. Why get scared by the obviously fake suits and costumes when you have bills, and puberty, and those damn Commies planning to nuke us all? I think that if special effects has been in any way realistic in those 50's monster movies no one would have gone to seem them. It would have reminded them too much of what could happen if the United States and the Soviet Union looked at each other the wrong way. Scary movies? No way…with a few exceptions, of course. But with _Halloween,_ Hollywood discovered something. While it can be truly hard to SCARE people, it is not so hard to SHOCK them, gross them out, HORRIFY them rather then TERRIFY them. The words may sound similar, but there is a world of difference. And to studio execs, a few shocked gasps when a knife went into someone's chest was far better then the more subtle fears exerted in such work as _Psycho._ And when _Friday The 13th_ was released two years later and also became a smash, well, that was it. They were off and running, as Hollywood and executives everywhere did what they did when something becomes popular: fire off enough knockoffs and similar junk to try and grab a brief piece of the market before the oversaturation makes the whole thing collapse like a house of cards. See also early 90's comic books and reality TV shows. BAM!" Savior said, smacking the palm of his hand with the back of his other hand. Myers' paid it no mind: he just continued to stalk Savior, though Savior thought that even HE was beginning to get annoyed that he didn't have Savior in a small locked room, in a long hallway with a locked door at the end, or the ability to catch him by surprise.

"Out came all the wanna-be's! Everyone began throwing out their films with angry men and women wearing masks and costumes and stalking nubile teenagers. And when they couldn't think of anything new they went back to the well and made sequels. And the very thing that started the boom was what killed it. People started making all these movies because they found it easier to horrify and gross out people. But the thing is, the more people see these movies, the more desensitized to the violence and gore they become. And the more desensitized they become, the more they start to notice the little things, and the big things, that's necessary for these films to have their violence and gore quotients. And eventually people began to notice how stupid the films were, how messed up their plots were if they had any plots at all, how people acted like such retards. Not to mention how killers never died or kept coming back, or after murdering a bunch of victims went to the time to artfully arrange said victims with none of the survivors noticing a huffing and puffing psycho lugging all the dead weight around, or how all the killers always WALKED, yet ALWAYS caught up or even PROCEEDED the victims." Savior said, his tone snarky. Myers, once again, just kept walking as the two continued to circle around the lounge.

"True, there were a few gems in there. _Sleepaway Camp_ has some truly innovative deaths and one of the best shock endings ever. _The Burning_ really showed how to make use of a pair of hedge trimmers. And the ending to _April Fools' Day_, well, you don't know whether to applaud or throw things. But even these showed the problems, the clichés, the utter nonsense people did. In the end, the genre pretty much rotted away, consumed by sequelitis and the lack of understanding that people weren't getting scared any more. Hell, why do you think Freddy went from being a vicious murderer to a jovial prankster? He was only reflecting an audience that couldn't suspend their disbelief any more."

On went the walk. You had to give it to Myers: he was patient.

"In the mid-90's though, a revival began. Movies like _Scream_ and _I Know What You Did Last Summer_ began to draw in the crowds. The reason? They were slasher films that made fun of themselves, films that mocked the clichés while FOLLOWING THEM AT THE SAME TIME! It was cute at first, people referencing the 80's slasher glut…but history repeated itself. Everyone tried to come out with their cool, ironic slasher film, and went on with the sequels when the original idea well exhausted itself. At least _Scream_ was smart enough to make itself a trilogy and stop there. I hope." Savior said.

He sighed, and then he was silent, even as he continued to walk away, once again completely a loop around the room. This time though, he started heading down the center of the room instead of going around its perimeter again.

"Do you know why the _Blair Witch Project_ worked? Because it knew that people's fears had changed. Your films, Jason's films, Freddy's, they were once scary because of the unreality of the concept. An unstoppable monster that deals horrible death! It was creepy, I'll admit, I can see it. But the thing is, eventually people start seeing the zipper running up the monster's back, and eventually they start calling everything before it happens. It had become predictable, and that is BAD when you want to scare someone. You want to REALLY scare someone, you don't need over the top gore effects or the disposal of fifty different victims each via a different weapon. That'll get you a few startled gasps…but TRUE fear? I guess I can't blame them for not getting it, but Myers, when it comes to TRUE fear in this world you have invaded, you know what works? LESS IS MORE. People's IMAGINATIONS will do a FAR worse job then ANYTHING you can put on screen. You can make the sound effect of something scratching at the door, but when someone opens the door and reveals a ten-foot bug, people are going to go "AHHHHH!" and then go "Well, a ten foot bug is pretty awful, but I can handle that. I was afraid it was going to be a HUNDRED feet tall." And if you open up that door and reveal a hundred foot bug, it's going to be "IYYYEEEEE! Well, a hundred foot bug is pretty awful, but I can deal with it. I was afraid it was going to be a THOUSAND feet tall." And so on. The bug is wasted. What is needed is what goes on in HERE when they hear the scratching at the door." Savior said, pointing to his head. "Suggestion, nuance, hints so faint you're barely aware of them…THAT'S what will keep people up at night."

Savior kept backing up, as Myers came away from the wall and followed.

"And THAT'S why the _Blair Witch Project_ worked. While Carpenter struggled by on 300 grand to make a glossy Hollywood film, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez took a budget of less then $15,000 and made one of the best horror films in thirty years. It didn't work because it was in a terrible unreal world, it worked because IT WAS SO DAMN REAL. It looked exactly like a documentary some college students would make for their film class. Early promotions promoted the film as actually BEING real, that the film was found somewhere in the woods a year after the students filming it disappeared. You didn't need a giant bug, ten or a thousand feet, for scares. All you needed was to take something very simple, like a college documentary…and then…."

Savior noticed that he was almost out of room: ten more feet and he'd hit the TV's the Titans had set up to watch their horror films several hours ago. One stand was empty, the TV a broken ruin, and the other had been smashed and stood destroyed on its podium, but the middle one was, somehow, still intact, hooked up to the melted wreck that was once a VCR. But he wasn't worried. He was almost done.

"Slippage, I call it. We start off with something that just looks SO real. The kids heading to the small town, interviewing the locals, acting like young adults do. We KNOW these people, this IS our lives. And then they head into the woods…and things…start…to go…OFF…." Savior said, gesturing with his thumb and forefinger to indicate that this "off" degree was very small, and that this was a good thing. "Ever so slightly, this world, our real world, starts to slide away from what we know to be real. They can't find their way out of the woods. They awake to find strange piles of stones around their tent. They find they're going in circles, that the map they have is useless. They find strange wooden crosses in the trees. Strange noises sound off in the woods. By the time one of them disappears, our unease has grown as deep as the Grand Canyon. We demand that either the film return to reality as we know it or take the plunge and open the door to reveal the ten-foot bug, but it doesn't. He just lets us hear the scratching…and lets us hear it…and hear it…and by the time they find the house…and the last shots of what they find within…we're so stunned it's over, and yet grateful that it is. For a typical audience, there would have been no screams, no groaning, no noise at all except maybe a few nervous whimpers. THAT is a horror film, Myers. Not someone stalking teens with a power tool…because that just doesn't happen. But the _Blair Witch Project…_that we can see happening. We look at real life and see it SLOWWWWLLLYYY start to slip into something…else…and by the time it is done, we are left with a feeling of great trepidation and disquiet. It's not FEAR, per say…but it's something far more potent then a million lame slasher flicks could ever install."

Savior stepped onto one of the broken, squashed parts of the couch, and decided he had gone far enough.

"Who knows what direction the genre will go in in the future? The current thing to do seems to be either bringing Japanese films over or just remaking them. I suppose this is deserved. The Japanese may also rely on the gore overabundance that spawned your masses, Myers, but they combine it with some truly disturbing imagery and filming. Not really all that surprising: there are a lot of good things about them, but man are they a repressed culture. I mean, machines powered by zombies that move them through flatulence? A town cursed by spirals? Only they could think of that. But that's good. It's different. It's…scary." Savior said. "And that's why I'm not going to fight you Myers, or run away. You aren't scary any more. Maybe once, yes, but times have changed. People have gotten used to you. After 6 sequels you may have finally gotten your sister, but people don't care any more. Some people may study your original film in school, but that's about all you have left Myers. You and all your kind. You're a dying breed, the creators of your own apathy that consumes everything. So why don't you just stop, and go back to your realm, where at least you can scare a few newcomers to the genre every now and then, instead of staying here, where I cannot only see the zipper running up your back, but I'm calling you on it?"

Myers didn't answer, as he drew in close to Savior. Savior stood his ground, locking eyes with the dead black slits on Myers' mask.

"All right then. Come on Myers. Do your worst. I think you will find that your worst can't even SCRATCH the horrors of this world." Savior said as Myers finally stepped up close to him and raised his butcher. "Come on Myers! Come and see the truth! You're a relic, a product of a bygone era, the thing that everyone was fascinated with when he first showed up but now wonder why they cared about so much, like pet rocks or internet catchphrases! You're a dusty remnant of an older style of filmmaking, one that no longer works! You're not scary! You're not dreadful! YOU AREN'T THE BOOGEYMAN ANYMORE!"

The knife stabbed down.

And plunged right into Savior's chest.

The look of surprised shock in Savior's eyes was monumental. His whole tactic, when he had seen Myers, had recalled how the previous fights with the movie characters had gone. With that in mind, he had decided to call Myers on his own fakeness, to effectively turn his back and deny his existence. He thought it would work. Instead, Myers had called HIM on his own assumptions…and as blood slowly flowed out of Noel's mouth, it looked like, in the end, as Myers yanked the knife out, his mask looking at Savior's face, that he had made the right one.

"……………….Then…again…" Savior said, as he felt shadows begin to flow into the sides of his vision. "In horror films…the non-believers…are always…proven…wrong…"

And Savior took one step to the side and then collapsed to the ground.

Myers' mask showed no expression, but even that could not hide the impression that he was…satisfied.

"Myers!"

Some things never change, says another old saw. Apparently Myers had heard THIS one, as he turned around at the sound of his name.

We do not know if he was surprised to see all the remaining Titans standing there, arms raised and weapons armed, even as Beast Boy brought up the prototype cannon he'd been carrying around with him, that Cyborg had fixed with a few crossed wires to give him another few shots, even as all the other Titans mirrored his actions, Myers in their sights.

Myers cocked his head at them.

"GO HOME." Beast Boy said.

And all the Titans opened fire: Starbolts, force blasts, chunks of earth, twin sonic cannon blasts, Birdarangs thrown from two hands (Robin and Scalpel) all bombarded Myers, who was driven backwards under the onslaught, his knife blade broken off by a pebble hurled at high velocity as his body was savaged, his mask ignited and erupting in flames, as he stumbled back…

And Gauntlet leaned over Robin and fired off a huge battering ram of power, sending Myers back even faster…

As his flailing right arm smashed into the lone remaining TV screen.

Myers began to thrash and jerk as electricity poured out of the TV, enveloping his being. But what drew the Titans' eyes was that it was red tinted electricity, crimson power that coursed through Myers, making his huge body twitch and jerk like a puppet, even as smoke poured from his eye holes and the power crackled down to the ruined VCR and out to the other remaining TV sets.

And the lights began turning on and off crazily, the Tower rumbling, as the Titans looked around in surprised fear, not knowing what had happened…

One gigantic series of flashes that consumed Michael Myers and enveloped the Titans in white…

And then the lights went out again.

* * *

The lights turned back on, a few seconds later, once again at full strength, bathing the room in light…a normal room. The couches were fixed, the holes in the wall repaired, the debris gathered and removed, the smashed TV's back on their pedestals, the screen fixed and once again hooked up the VCR's…on one of which rested a stack of six horror films. The bowls of snacks, upturned and ground into the carpet, had been replaced neatly on the two different coffee tables. 

And Michael Myers was gone.

The Titans lowered their arms and looked around, blinking away the flashes that the bright lights had caused in their vision.

"….Ok…what just happened?" Cyborg asked.

"NOEL!" Raven said, as she ran the several feet to her love's side, as Savior, groaning, sat up…revealing a perfectly normal shirt. There was no stab wound, no blood, not even a hole in his shirt, as Savior, with great surprise, felt along the region that Myers had stuck his knife in. "Noel…?" She said, confused by this sudden change, as she had been under the impression that Savior was a few seconds away from death.

"I'll be damned." Savior said, looking at his hand as if that held the answer to his questions, and at that time Raven realized the huge hole in her shoulder was gone too. It had vanished, as if it had never been. The Titans were coming to similar realizations that their injuries were gone as well.

"Ok…not that I'm complaining…but what just happened?" Terra asked.

"……….The film ended." Beast Boy said.

"The world the monster created through this accident…Myers must have acted like a key somehow…when he broke the television he opened the door again…this time in reverse…" Robin said, though it was a lot more theorizing then answering.

"Yeah." Cyborg said. He'd walked over to the VCR, on which the six horror films were stacked, and pressed the eject button. The tape exited the machine. "We sent him home."

And he held up the tape to reveal what it was.

_Halloween._

"They did not belong here." Starfire said, her face grave. "They came here through an accident, leaving a world that they should have never left. When we sent them back…our world fixed itself, removed what they had done…reasserted what was right."

"Or in other words, it struck the set, took the makeup off the actors, and told us filming was done, thanks for your time." Savior said, standing up.

For a moment all the Titans stood there.

"So…what do we do now?" Gauntlet said.

"I don't know about you, but I've had enough horror films to last me a lifetime…" Beast Boy said. The Titans agreed, as Beast Boy retrieved the other two films from their playing devices and collected them in a pile, taking them away from the TV's and any kind of electrical outfit. Just in case.

"That was stupid, you know." Raven said to Savior. He glanced at her. "You could have been killed. Probably would have been if THIS hadn't happened."

"So why did you stay there and help attack Myers when you could have floated over and at least closed up my heart?" Savior replied. Raven's eyes widened at the realization that she'd done just that: she'd been too far into the "I want this to END" mindset.

"Um…tactical decision?" She said weakly.

"Well, no harm done." Savior said, and left it at that.

"I don't know about you, but I am totally bombed. I think I'll go sleep right here." Terra said, as she lay down on the couch.

"Sleep? After what just happened? I don't think I'll sleep for a week." Scalpel said.

"Just wait until your body finally realizes that it's safe and can come down from its heightened state. The crash and burn will be like a bomb going off inside you." Savior said.

"But…how can we sleep…I'm…afraid…" Starfire said, trembling. Robin put a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she continued to tremble like a leaf.

"Ok guys…instead of a horror marathon, why don't we all have a sleepover in here. For tonight."

"Sounds good to me." Beast Boy said, as he finished locking all the films in his small personal cabinet. He'd have to remember to return the rentals in the morning. "But, ah…who's going to go fetch our stuff from our rooms?"

Everyone looked at each other.

* * *

Halloween Eve. 

Though the Titans had eventually (after all deciding to go in one large group that tip-toed around the Tower the whole time) formed their sleepover, planned activities of snack gorging and girl talk quickly fell apart as all the Titans fell asleep. They slept through most of the morning as well before all of them awoke. Daylight and distance finally allowed them to put last night's events in perspective, and they got to work.

They quickly discovered their whole Tower was back to normal…and Control Freak's remote and the Eye of Archetypal were back on their pedestals in the Evidence Room. Cyborg swiftly got to work repairing the computer system, while Raven took the Eye, contacted Jason Blood, and passed the artifact into his possession. As for the remote, Robin had taken it and gone off with Savior, and no one had seen them for a bit. When they returned, Raven had asked her boyfriend what they'd done with it. Savior had simply replied "He'll make sure no one ever finds it." Raven didn't ask any more questions, but she had a feeling she knew where the remote was, soon to be buried in the deepest corner of a bat-filled cave…

With that done, the Titans had finally relaxed and prepared for the evening. They had all acquired Holopins for one costume party, where they were going to go as normal people (with the holopins changing their hairstyle, skin color, and even facial features a bit to ensure no one could accurately guess at their secret identities), and after that one was winding down they had headed for another, where they had turned off their Holopins and gone as themselves. The youth of Jump City were always happy to see their teen protectors, and with several local bands playing, the Titans partied it up among them, the incident already fading from their minds.

Almost.

Starfire sat at a table, sipping mustard. Robin pulled himself from a crowd, noticed her, and headed over.

"You ok Star?" he asked.

"Yes Robin. I am just resting. Then I will reengage in the purposeful flailing and thrashing…" Starfire said dully.

"You don't sound ok Star."

"…..No Robin. I'm not."

"Is it about last night? Star, Cyborg and I went over the whole Tower with a fine tooth comb with electronics, and then Raven did the same thing with spells. Nothing's there any more. The boogeymen are back where they belong. Let's leave them there. Look, even Savior and Raven have been able to do it." Robin said, pointing at the couple. True, Savior was usually the type to ponder the ramifications of whatever the Titans had done, but at the moment he was sitting with Raven, their arms intertwined, as they fed each other a Twix bar.

"I know they are Robin. I just…wonder." Starfire said.

"About what?"

"Those creatures did not belong on our reality. Yet somehow they came here. We would have the scars to prove it had they not been undone, especially Scalpel…how long are Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Terra going to wait on him hand and foot?"

"He took a LOT for the team last night Star. So…possibly until NEXT Halloween." Robin said, looking over to where Scalpel was sitting with Sophie, his girlfriend, who had joined them at the party dressed like Abraham Lincoln, complete with fake bullet hole in her forehead, as Beast Boy and Cyborg ran to fetch him drinks and other things, which he sat and sipped contently, completely accepted by a crowd that would usually look at him leerily at best. After all, it was Halloween. "So…what are you afraid of?"

"Well…like I said Robin. They did not exist. Yet last night, they did. We opened a door to someplace Robin, a bad place. I am just worried…did we close and lock the door behind them when we sent them all back…or did we just…close it?"

Robin thought it over.

"All I can say, Star, is that you might be right. This is a strange world. But…if they decide to make a sequel…let's just say I pity anything that comes though that gateway."

Robin then smirked.

"Besides, we sucked as a horror film. There wasn't a single victim! What kind of a horror film has a zero body count?"

"One that won't make up the grosses, I'd hope." Starfire replied, and then she finally grinned again. "Now, let us move our body in those ridiculous ways!"

And she yanked Robin off his seat and onto the dance floor, where the last song was coming to an end, as the band tuned up and the crowd celebrated horrors rather then running from them and dying at their hands.

"This next one's from Rob Zombie. Hit it boys!" Said the singer, and the band fired up.

* * *

(Camera pans up to massive crowd shot, as credits start to roll, song playing over them. The lyrics used to appear here, but they don't any more unfortunately. You just get the mock credits) **Supporting Cast**

**Zombies**

_Moanus ahhhhrunawayus_

Played By: Hundreds of Extras in various degrees of makeup.

Footage: Hundreds of films.

Body Count: Probably in the millions.

**Slasher Star Classification and Stats**

**The Fisherman**

_Slickerus hateslovehewittus_

Played By: Muse Watson

Footage:

(1997) _I Know What You Did Last Summer_ by Jim Gillespie

(1998) _I Still Know What You Did Last Summer_ by Danny Cannon

Body Count: 12(plus 3)

**Ghostface **

_Fatherdeathus wescravencomebackkus_

Played By: Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard, Timothy Olyphant, Laurie Metcalf, Scott Foley

Footage:

(1996) _Scream_ by Wes Craven

(1997) _Scream 2_ by Wes Craven

(2000) _Scream 3_ by Wes Craven

Body Count: 24

**Jack Frost**

_Frostyis royallypissed_

Played By: Scott Macdonald, Matt Falleta

Footage

(1997) _Jack Frost_ by Michael Cooney

(2000) _Jack Frost: Revenge of the Mutant Killer Snowman_ by Michael Cooney

Body Count: 21

**Chucky **

_Gijoes myass_

Played By: Many talented puppeteers and a few midgets, voiced by Brad Dourif

Footage:

(1988) _Child's Play_ by Tom Holland

(1990) _Child's Play 2_ by John Lafia

(1991) _Child's Play 3: Look Who's Stalking_ by Jack Bender

(1998) _Bride of Chucky_ by Ronny Yu

(2004) _Seed of Chucky_ by Don Macini

Body Count: 25 plus whoever buys it in the yet unreleased as of this writing _Seed of Chucky._

**The Leprechaun**

_Notascutes asyodas_

Played By: Warwick Davis

Footage:

(1993) _Leprechaun_ by Mark Jones

(1994) _Leprechaun 2_ by Rodman Flender

(1995) _Leprechaun 3_ by Brian Trenchard-Smith

(1997) _Leprechaun 4: In Space_ by Brian Trenchard-Smith

(2000) _Leprechaun In The Hood_ by Brian Trenchard-Smith

(2004) _Leprechaun: Back 2 Da Hood_ by Steven Ayromlooi

Body Count: 43 (He also turned a man into a spider by altering his DNA…don't ask)

**The Candyman**

_Cenobitus honeybeeum_

Played By: Tony Todd

Footage:

(1992) _Candyman_ by Bernard Rose

(1995) _Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh_ by Bill Condon

(1999) _Candyman: Day of the Dead_ by Tury Meyer

Body Count: 30 proven victims, 21 alleged but unseen extra victims

**Michael Myers**

_Kirkus afterjamieleecurtis_

Played By: Nick Castle, Tony Moran, Dick Warlock, George P. Wilbur, Don Shanks, Chris Durand, Brad Loree

Footage:

(1978) _Halloween_ by John Carpenter

(1981) _Halloween II_ by Rick Rosenthal

(1988) _Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers_ by Dwight H. Little

(1989) _Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers_ by Dominique Othenin-Girard

(1995) _Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers_ by Joe Chappelle

(1998) _Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later_ by Steve Miner

(2002) _Halloween: Resurrection_ by Rick Rosenthal

Body Count: 85

**Freddy Krueger**

_Facejobius desperatlyneedius_

Played By: Robert Englund

Footage:

(1984) _A Nightmare on Elm Street_ by Wes Craven

(1986) _A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge_ by Jack Sholder

(1987) _A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors_ by Chuck Russell

(1988) _A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master_ by Renny Harlin

(1989) _A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child_ by Stephen Hopkins

(1992) _Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare_ by Rachel Talalay

(1994) _Wes Craven's New Nightmare_ by Wes Craven

(2003) _Freddy vs Jason_ by Ronny Yu

Body Count: 41

**JASON VOORHEES**

_Hockeymaskus wontgiveupum_

Played By: Ari Lehman, Warrington Gillette, Richard Brooker, Ted White, C.J Graham, Ken Kirzinger, KANE HODDER

Footage:

(1980) _Friday The 13th_ by Sean S. Cunningham

(1981) _Friday The 13th Part 2_ by Steve Miner

(1982) _Friday The 13th Part 3_ by Steve Miner

(1984) _Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter_ by Joseph Zito

(1985) _Friday The 13th Part V: A New Beginning_ by Danny Steinmann

(1986) _Friday The 13th Part VI: Jason Lives_ by Tom Mcloughlin

(1988) _Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood _by John Carl Buechler

(1989)_ Friday the 13th Part VIII:_ _Jason Takes Manhattan_ by Rob Hedden

(1993)_ Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday_ by Adam Marcus

(2002) _Jason X_ by James Isaac

(2003) _Freddy vs Jason_ by Ronny Yu

Body Count: 160

* * *

The T-Tower was dark, it's occupants out celebrating. And so it stood, like Hill House, though a great many dreams passed through it's halls and being. 

Not needed any more, the spare TV's had been packed up and placed back in the storage room. And after the events of that night, who knows how long it will be before they are used again…

The room is dark and silent…

And then one of the TV's flicked on.

That was bad enough…if you didn't consider if it also was NOT PLUGGED IN.

A shifty screen of white appeared on the screen. It wasn't like static though. It was more like…a misty fog…

And we have to wonder if Beast Boy guessed the number of films right.

And of Starfire's last words…

Did we close the door and lock it…or just close it? 

The TV flickers for a few seconds.

And then it shuts off again.

Maybe whatever had happened couldn't find a way through…

But there was always next time…

And once again, the room was silent and dark.

Except for the sound of dripping water.

The End?


End file.
